Rising Light
by eyeofthetiger95
Summary: A Hypixel fanfiction centered around the minigame Warlords. This is a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style fanfiction. Character decisions are being voted in on the Hypixel forums. I would like to emphasize that this is an archive of past decisions and plotlines, and that no interaction is being taken into consideration on this platform. This is just for reader enjoyment here!
1. Chapter 1

Centuries ago, the Red King united the dozens of warring factions into a powerful and prosperous empire. His successors have steadily increased the wealth and strength of the kingdom, and the city of Stormwind, once a small village, has become a center of trade, religion, and education as well as the seat of the royal house.

For the first time, there is conflict in the succession.

The recently deceased King has left two children- twins born only seconds apart. Both are too young to assume the throne, and the king's sister has seized the throne and named herself Queen Regent. Your primary goal is to mitigate the damage and dethrone her before Stormwind's former allies tear the city apart.

In the meantime, trouble is brewing. The traditional practice of extracting void shards, magic dust, and other raw materials from natural sources is run by warriors, who are regarded as second-class citizens by the deeply religious paladin leadership. There are reports of strange malevolent spirits emerging from the shard mines, slaughtering the workers and leading to growing resentment against the mine owners, who do not seem to care. Mages are seeking an alternate and less dangerous method for mining, but their progress is slow, difficult, and scarred by the tragedies of previous failed attempts.

The shaman tribes of the northern regions, a proud independent people, are falling prey to the siren call of an extremist leadership faction who call for a full-scale invasion of Stormwind and an attempt to seize the throne for themselves. After years of paying tribute to the kings and queens, and suffering as their territory is restricted, they rally their followers by reminding them of a past when shamans were their own rulers, undaunted by the powers of any other. The only obstacle to their plan is the superior fighting force of the crown, now allied closer than ever with the paladin-run House of Light. If they too can find powerful allies to support them, nothing will stand in their path.

This is a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style story. Character decisions are determined at /forums/warlords.83/

This story post is an archive of past decisions in order to track the current plot line.


	2. Prologue: Ascension

It was a little past midnight when the king of Stormwind finally died.

Serena sat in her usual place by his side, holding his cold hand, in the chair she had occupied for almost four days. She wasn't sure whether she should cry or not. It was the moment she had been dreading for so long, but now that it was here, she didn't feel as shattered as she'd expected. The frail, hollow shell lying under the covers of the royal bed was not her brother. Not anymore. In some ways, he had already died long ago.

There was a light tap on the door and a maid peeked inside. "My lady, I'm sorry to disturb you, but the shaman Chieftain is here."

"Send him in," Serena ordered. Her voice was hoarse from days of silence. Reluctantly, she laid her brother's hand back on his still chest and got to her feet.

The door burst open and Luc strode inside. His rich fur robes were heavy with snow, and it trailed from his boots across the plush carpet. "I came as soon as I heard the news, but the trail was rough. I am so sorry for your loss."

"Thank you," she said. For some reason, his sympathy stung more than the actual death.

"Where is your sister?" Luc asked. He glanced around, but Serena shook her head. "She should be with you at a time like this."

"She's where I left her. Holed up in the basement of the College with Fontn and her stupid experiments." Serena chewed the inside of her cheek, trying hold back the tears that threatened to fall. "Even now, she cannot bear to look at him."

"After all these years? That seems harsh," said Luc quietly.

"Forgiveness does not run in this family," Serena muttered. She picked up the pitcher on the nightstand and poured water for herself and Luc. "Here. I can't offer you anything stronger right now."

"This is fine." Luc took the cup but didn't drink. "I am not here to mourn the passing of the king."

Serena smiled bitterly. "I knew you would not. After everything you went through with him, I almost expected you to be celebrating this."

"I do not deny that we had our share of differences, but he was a strong leader. A good man who wanted what was best for Stormwind. The Light will welcome him at the end." Luc raised his cup to the dead man and took a small sip. "Are my people permitted to come into the city at the funeral?"

"Of course. All are welcome. Those who take issue with your presence will be dealt with personally, by me."

Luc raised an eyebrow over the rim of his cup. "The House of Light has become very political as of late."

"I have decided that we will not stand idly by and watch our fragile peace break down because of a few warriors who prefer to speak before they think." Serena watched Luc's face very closely as she spoke. "In the current political climate, I think it is wisest for me to assume the throne of Stormwind as the Queen Regent. The heirs of the king are not old enough to accept the crown, and my position as the Daughter of the House will secure me the support of Stormwind's allies. I summoned you here to ask for the blessing of the Shaman tribes on my rule."

The shock on his face was delicious. Serena held back her triumphant smirk.

"Do you realize what you are asking-" Luc began. She cut him off before he could finish the sentence.

"Yes, I know. It's unprecedented. But these are troubled times and I too want what is best for Stormwind."

"No. You want power."

"If that is the burden I must carry, so be it."

"Save the innocent act for someone stupider than me." Luc put down his cup and drew his Gemini. Electricity crackled through the air. "I will not confirm you without the approval of your sister. You know very well that you are not the only eligible candidate for Regent."

"My sister is dead to me!" Serena drained her cup and hurled it into the fireplace. Glass fragments sprayed across the room. "She would rather hide than admit she was wrong. She shamed this family and the House of Light. How _dare_ you choose her over me?"

"This is uncalled for," said Luc irritably. "Clearly you are not in your right mind. I do extend my deepest sympathies for your brother's death, but you are painfully unfit to rule. I will return in a month and the throne of Stormwind will remain empty until you or Lucy demonstrate that you can accept the crown. Good night, Lady Serena." He tried to walk towards the door but Serena stepped in his path.

"You think I am not in my right mind? You are endangering your people."

"I said, _good night_ ," Luc snapped. Serena ignored him and opened the door herself.

"Bring me the last maid who served my brother," she snapped at the footman. "Now!"

The boy nodded and practically sprinted down the hall.

"The last maid?" Luc asked warily. "Surely the king of Stormwind had more than one."

"Oh, he had twenty," Serena muttered. "But only one was still alive when he died."

Luc's eyes bulged and he raised the Gemini. "Are you saying-"

The door opened again and Luc quickly lowered his weapon. Serena looked up to see a teenaged Cryomancer girl holding a tray with two steaming cups. She wore a white apron over her blue mage robes, and her blonde hair was covered with a plain hood.

She was beautiful, Serena thought bitterly, beautiful in a way she herself had never been. "What is your name, child?" she asked.

"My name… Icelyn, Lady Serena. I'm Icelyn," she stammered. "Am- am I in trouble?"

"Of course not. Come closer, Icelyn." Serena dipped her hand into the pocket of her robes, fitting her fingers through the claws she favored over a regular sword. "I have a question for you. Answer truthfully and you will have nothing to fear."

"Yes, Lady Serena," Icelyn whispered. She shuffled closer, looking at her feet.

"Tell me, child, what do you know about the Emerald Heart?"

"Um…" Icelyn's gaze became distant. "It might have been mentioned to me before."

"By him?" Serena pointed at the body on the bed.

"Yes," Icelyn said. "He spoke of it, in his fever. Something about the House of Light as well. But he said many things. I took no notice of it."

"I see." Serena put her free hand on Icelyn's shoulder. "Look into the firelight, dear."

She took a few tiny steps towards the hearth. Serena nudged her a bit closer until the flames were almost touching the hem of her robes, then drew the claws from her pocket and yanked the girl's head back in a single movement.

"No!" Luc shouted, but it was too late.

Blood fountained from Icelyn's slit throat, splashing over the fireplace. The flames hissed violently and the room stank with coppery bitterness. Her body went limp and Serena let her fall into the soggy mess of ash.

She turned back to look at Luc. His face was an amusing shade of grey. The old Earthwarden looked more like a dead plant than anything else.

"Well?" Serena said impatiently. "You heard the girl. The Emerald Heart is alive and well in the hands of the House. The Shamans were broken once. They can be broken again."

Luc opened and shut his mouth, but all that came out was a strangled choking noise.

"I am losing my patience!" Serena hissed. "You will confirm me as the Queen Regent, or I swear, you will wish you had." She grabbed a towel from the table, wiped the blood from her claws, and tossed the stained rag on Icelyn's fallen body. "Say it."

"I… As the rightful chieftain, I confirm Serena Rose, of the bloodline of the Red King, as the Queen Regent," Luc stammered. His eyes flickered to Icelyn on the floor and he turned even paler than before. "May her rule… may her rule be blessed by the Light and… m-may it be for the glory of Stormwind."

Power hummed in the air for a brief second. The crown of Stormwind, lying unceremoniously on the bedside table, seemed to glow with its own light. Serena smiled and brushed past Luc to pick it up. "Thank you."

"Do not add insult to injury!" Luc snarled. "You gave me no choice!" He turned to leave, but Serena stepped in front of him and dug her claws into his shoulder.

"What happened here tonight?"

Luc flinched. "I- Nothing happened. I confirmed you as the Queen Regent of Stormwind."

Serena raised an eyebrow. "You are addressing the Crown. Show some respect."

"I confirmed you as Queen Regent… Your Majesty."

She pocketed her weapon and smiled. "Very good. You are free to go."


	3. Divided We Stand

It was an unseasonably cold day in Attherough. Bitter winds swirled around the valley and howled through the little Shaman settlement, rattling the tent frames. The mood inside the Council meeting-house, however, was anything but cold.

"You cannot be serious!" Syncro shouted. "You would throw away perhaps our only chance of peaceful coexistence in order to satisfy your pride? What you seek is our destruction."

"Only the destruction of our servitude!" Elivagar insisted. "You confuse peace with quiet slavery! I will not watch our people suffer because you are too cowardly to break away!"

Syncro turned to Luc for the first time, pointing an accusing finger at the other earthwarden. "This is treason! He would destroy our way of life for a throne that is not ours to claim. The House of Light would tear us apart if they so much as caught word that we planned to break the treaty."

"You see! Coward!" Elivagar snapped. "We were our own masters once, not beholden to any throne or the House. They bowed to us, and we bowed to none."

"You speak of a past that cannot be revived," said Luc wearily. Their arguing made his head hurt. "The Red King broke our power when he took the throne of Stormwind."

"If that throne was ours, we would be restored!" The ground rumbled menacingly as Elivagar spoke. "You allowed the House of Light to consolidate power in Stormwind! We are in this mess because of you!"

"Silence! You have no idea what the alternative was!" Luc snapped at him. "The true heirs are 8 years old; would you rather that throne go to a child? I did what I had to do for our survival, which you seem very intent on throwing away."

"There is nothing but pain for us here!" Elivagar retorted. "How much more of our territory must they take from us before you see it? We are nothing but slaves!"

"You are forgetting the resources that the Crown provides us in exchange for this so-called 'slavery,'" Syncro sneered. "You would not wield half the power you hold if not for the void shards they trade us. They could easily take that away."

"Then we find a way to create our own!" Elivagar said fiercely. "Our dependence on the Crown has weakened us. I know that we were self-sufficient once. The trade with them is just another tool to ensure our subservience! If we can reduce our demand, or eliminate it entirely, it will no longer be an obstacle. At least we will accomplish something, even if it is not what I intend."

"And how do you propose we do that?" Syncro muttered. "Aria and the traders brought news of strange monsters emerging from the mines. They cannot risk more warrior lives for the sake of increasing production. The shamans have a scant fraction of the number of warriors in Stormwind. Attempting our own mining operation will kill us all."

Elivagar spat scornfully into the fire. "Since when has the House of Light cared for warrior lives? 'The mines have been depleted and we had to find a new one.' 'There was an explosion in the refinery that destroyed the stock.' 'The warriors are threatening revolt.' 'There are monsters killing the miners.' Every damned year, Aria makes excuses as to why she cannot meet the quota. This year is no different."

"Perhaps we can negotiate with Aria and the Regent for a higher quota," Luc said thoughtfully. "Elivagar is right. It is rare that the agreed-upon quantity of shards is ever met by the House. We send an Emissary to the crown every time it changes hands, so why not ask for a change in the Treaty and different territory limitations? The question now is who should we send?"

"Send me." Syncro stepped forward. "This is a delicate situation that must be handled with care. The Regent grieves for the King and may lash out at us if the appropriate measures are not taken."

"Send me!" Elivagar stepped forward as well. "The Crown of Stormwind is the weakest it has ever been. We must push our advantage. It may be another century before an opportunity like this arises again."

 **COMMUNITY DECISION: Send Syncro to bargain with Lady Aria and the Queen Regent**


	4. I Live to Die

Axoy wiped his forehead as he watched the sun set. The night shift workers were starting to arrive, but his replacement wasn't there yet. It wasn't a difficult job, but those damned monsters could appear out of nowhere. Less of the mining crew showed up every day. He couldn't blame them for being scared for their lives, but he knew another week of subpar production was going to bring the wrath of Q_T down on his head like a sack of bricks.

Last time, five void monsters had managed to rip up half of the smelter, spilling molten fuel across the mineshaft. Four dead, twenty injured. Explaining that to Q_T wasn't an experience he was eager to repeat. Between shouting at him for being careless and cursing his night shift replacement for being stupid, she'd grudgingly assigned a new guard shift composed of very unqualified mages and a defender. The mages were honestly only good for being monster bait, and the defender was a snob who managed to make Axoy feel like an idiot at least once a day, but he'd saved his life on more than one occasion.

The tent flap opened and Pran looked inside. "Hey. Everything okay in here?"

"I thought you'd never get here," Axoy said wearily. He put down the record book and stood up. "Yeah it's fine. Should be a pretty quiet night. We've both had it easy so far."

"Anything I need to know about?"

"Nope." Axoy looked around but Raidibotti and the mage guards were out of sight. "Between you and me, I know this mine is dying. Too much dust and not enough shards. We're running the smelter overtime, but Q_T is gonna want my head on a plate when she sees the expenses for this month. This can't keep up."

"I mean, you've got a quarter of the crew here too," Pran muttered. "This isn't even the worst of the infested area and everyone's too scared to deal with what we've got going here. Doesn't matter what the House pays. If they can't guarantee our safety, no one's gonna show."

Someone screamed nearby. A bell began to ring outside.

Pran and Axoy looked at each other.

"I knew it couldn't f***ing last." Axoy drew his sword and sprinted through the camp, heading for the mine entrance. Raidibotti was still nowhere to be seen. _Top-notch bodyguard_ , Axoy thought irritably. He yanked the heavy doors open, and stopped in his tracks when he saw the battle raging below the shattered stairs.

No less than six ethereal monsters were tearing through the crowd of panicking miners and mage guards. Fire, ice, and water flew in every direction. As Axoy watched in horror, one of the cryomancers got too close and was thrown against a column. She slid down to the floor, landing in a heap of bloody robes.

"They can't get out unless someone gets those stairs back together. Got my back?" Axoy asked. Pran nodded and drew his own sword. The greenish light of the felflame blade cast a sickly glow over the battle scene.

"Let's go!"

As soon as they landed on the ground level, a shadowy claw swept towards him. Axoy rolled sideways and slashed at the creature's limb, but it boiled away into thin air before the blow could connect. It lunged at him again, a mass of dark clouds and slashing fangs. A flame burst exploded between the monster's glaring purple eyes and it screeched in agony, disintegrating into foul-smelling smoke.

Pran sprinted through the fight and picked up the fallen cryomancer. Axoy grabbed some nearby crates and managed to stack them up until they reached the remains of the stairs. "Retreat! Get to the surface!"

No one needed to be told twice. The mages turned and bolted for the doors. Axoy cast a seismic wave towards the remaining monsters, throwing them backwards into a corner. Pran and an aquamancer were carrying the fallen cryo out of the mine. They would probably be okay. Axoy turned away from the creatures and took a step up the makeshift stairs.

A flicker of movement caught his eye. A seventh monster lunged at him, with outstretched claws. There was no time to react. Axoy tried to raise his sword…

And the claws stopped, inches from his chest. Someone behind him gasped. He heard the soft thump as they collapsed.

 _What?_

He looked down. The green light of an intervene sparkled weakly over his skin. The monster roared in frustration and struck again, but the blows simply glanced off the shield. Axoy backed up and rammed the blade through the creature's eye. It disintegrated like the first one.

Raidibotti lay at the top of the stairs, unconscious and bleeding from the wounds meant for Axoy. He dragged the injured defender the last few feet to the door, then slammed and deadbolted them closed. "Get a pyro and an aqua. I want these sealed shut and he needs healing."

The remaining uninjured mages tottered over and started welding the doors shut with fireballs. An aquamancer summoned up a healing rain over Raidibotti and started trying to clean the hole in his chest with water bolts. Axoy collapsed on a supply crate next to Pran.

"About that quiet evening…" Pran started to say.

"This place is done. There were seven in there. I owe Raidi my life for the hundredth f****ing time. What are our options?"

"The same as always," said Pran helplessly. "Find a new mine and wait until it's too depleted and infested to keep going. Bitch at Q_T until she gives us more guards. I guess we could talk to the College representative for whatever ungodly solution they can cook up, but I don't think Fontn has given a f*** in twenty years."

"Don't make me talk to Q_T again," Axoy growled. "I'd be better off dead."

 **COMMUNITY DECISION: Seek out a new ore node for mining and request Fontn's help from the College representative, Cthuko**


	5. The Gift of Knowledge

Q_T was already in a bad mood when Axoy walked in. He braced himself when she looked up.

"I know, I know! The mine's unworkable," she grumbled. "I've been explaining the logistics to the Ministers of the House of Light all morning. I don't know how many times I can repeat myself without going crazy or killing someone. They made me talk to Felflame and everything." Q_T made an affected little shudder. "I never want to see that dreadful little man ever again."

"How awful," Axoy muttered sarcastically. "Look, if you want a new mine, we need that appraisal guy from Doriven to come back. He was really good."

"Already got them," Q_T said glumly. "They're at the stables with Soup. Crossfire is still a possibility, since the shamans are in their autumn territory right now. We'll just block off a section needed for mining if they complain to Her Majesty in a few months."

She was surprisingly calm and reasonable, and Axoy decided not to push his luck and tell her that he had sent Natalie to the College rep. "Thank you."

"We're under so much damned strain right now. Just go take the day off. I'll reassign you when Soup gets back with the site appraisal report." Q_T produced a flask from a pocket of her gown and took a swig. "Why are you still here? Shoo."

Natalie looked around at the graceful arched entrance of the College, unable to shake the feeling of being out of place. Students in hoods and tunics followed their robed team leaders through magic exercises on the lawn outside, and Natalie had to force herself not to stop and stare. She walked quickly through the hall and went up a flight of marble stairs to the office where Axoy had set up a meeting for her. The door was closed, but she could hear someone moving around behind it.

"Natalie?"

She looked up as a Pyromancer in red and gold robes opened the door. "Good morning. This way please."

The man led her into a round office with a desk and pulled out a chair for her. "I'm Cthuko, the College representative for Stormwind, Doriven, and Arathi. I coordinate the team leaders and answer directly to Fontn. So… what business could a warrior have with the College?"

"We need your help. It's an ongoing issue in the void shard mines," Natalie said nervously as she sat down. "Several months now. There are… highly destructive monsters appearing in the nodes, with great physical strength and no means of communication. The House of Light has been supplying us with guards, but they can't protect all of us. As far as we know, they've done nothing about the source of the issue."

"This is the first time I've heard about anything like this." Cthuko produced a sheaf of paper and a pen from the desk drawer and began writing. "They have never mentioned this to me or Fontn."

Anger flared up in Natalie's chest but she squeezed the arms of her chair until it receded. Cthuko flinched.

"Control yourself, warrior. I will defend myself if attacked."

"They left us to die!" Natalie burst out. "It was never their intention to help us. They wanted us to…"

"Please calm down. Which Minister of the House of Light oversees the mining operations?"

"Q_T," Natalie muttered. "Though it may as well be no one, with what they've done for us."

"I would think mining is a higher priority for them," Cthuko said. "Stormwind's treaty with the shamans is almost wholly dependent on the weapons and material trade."

"Everyone knows the last thing Stormwind wants is to arm the shamans," Natalie snapped. "If mine production is down, they keep the shamans weak and they keep us working scared. Two birds with one stone."

"I see." Cthuko made another note. "Describe the beings you saw."

"Tall. Thin. You can see through their bodies, but they always have some kind of head and eyes at the top. They're like purple smoke... Weapons pass straight through their limbs, but their eyes are the weak point. Black claws and fangs. Those are the only solid parts."

"Do you know where they come from?"

"I've never actually seen one appear. But I've been told they look like they emerge straight out of the stone."

"Hmm. I assume combating them is overly dangerous?"

"They're incredibly fast. One strike is all it takes. We have mages working as guards but they can't keep up either."

Cthuko shuffled through his papers again. "And there is no other possible alternative? Does Q_T or anyone else in the House of Light know that you have exhausted all available options?"

Natalie hesitated, wondering what the right answer was. "Q_T doesn't know we're talking to you about this. She sent an appraisal team out to Crossfire this morning to find a new mine. This isn't the first time we've dealt with this situation and she's been unreasonable in the past. There was a chance she might actually ban us from speaking to you about it if we contacted her before coming here."

"Interesting." Cthuko made a few notes on the bottom of the page. "All right. We are not affiliated with the House in any way, so we are not obligated to tell them anything that happened here."

Natalie sighed in relief. "Thank you."

"That's all for now. You can expect one of our teams later this week to inspect the situation at the sealed mine. They'll bring the report to Fontn, and he'll decide whether or not to take on the issue." He tucked away the papers and smiled slightly for the first time in their meeting. "Although between you and me, Natalie, I think you have a good chance of it."

"Are we there yet?"

"You asked that already."

"I know."

Soup gritted his teeth and rode down the steep path behind the appraisal team. Pepper and Croft could do absolutely no wrong in Q_T's eyes, which he envied, but they were the worst travel companions he'd ever had the misfortune of meeting.

"We're not far, if that helps," Pepper said. He unfolded the map again and checked the landmarks. "Once we're over this ridge, we'll be able to see the cliffs. The lakes should be lower than usual, given that it's been a bit of a dry season, but the dam is open so that Thornhill forest doesn't dry out completely."

"I miss Thornhill," Croft said sadly. "It's shaman territory now. They're well-known for killing trespassers."

"Charming," Soup growled. "And we're expected to share the region when they show up in winter?"

"Only if we find a decent enough vein of void shards," Pepper said. "Last time I was here, Crossfire was known for quantity over quality."

Soup shrugged. "That's enough for Q_T."

"Whoa!" Croft shouted. "Guys… We're gonna have a problem here."

"What?" Soup kicked his horse into a gallop to catch up to the aquamancer far ahead. "What's wrong?"

"S***," Pepper whispered. "Gods above, what happened?"

Soup came over the ridge. Crossfire plains spread out in front of him, and his heart sank.

It was flooded. At least four feet of water lapped gently at the cliffs on both sides. Pepper and Croft looked at each other dubiously.

"When the hell did this happen?" Soup demanded.

"I don't know. It must have been recently, or else Q_T would have known not to send us here. Why isn't it draining? The dam should at least be letting some water through." Croft sighed. "If the dam is blocked, maybe we can open it up. Thornhill must be dry as a desert."

"I'm going to go look." Soup nudged his horse down the steep path. The closer he got, the worse the water looked. Small patches of green scum floated on the surface and brown algae clouded the depths. "It's been like this for probably three weeks, maybe a month. Not enough time to really muck anything up, but I don't want to have to walk through it."

"I don't know of anything big enough to block up the dam like this naturally," Croft remarked. "Any waste flowing out from the canals in Stormwind gets filtered through the cages in the sewer before coming here, and those get cleaned almost every week."

Soup dismounted and gritted his teeth as he stepped into the water. It was cold and the ground under his boots was sticky. Pepper and Croft hesitated for a moment, but plunged in as well.

The dam wasn't far from them, but it seemed like a miserably long time before they reached it. The water was deepest right next to the stone wall, almost up to Soup's neck. He felt along the side. There were four large square holes in the dam that allowed a certain amount of water to escape to Thornhill during the rains, and they could be plugged during a particularly bad flood. His fingers traced the edge of one gap, but there was definitely some sticks and something smooth and round wedged in the hole. Maybe it was a stone that had dislodged from the cliffs. It was slick and slimy, but there were gaps in the surface and Soup used them as handholds. Working by touch alone, he carefully pulled it loose and held it up.

"I found the…" Soup only managed to get out the first three words before his brain registered what he was looking at.

It was a human skull.

There was a loud splash as Croft fainted nearby. Pepper reached for the aquamancer and began towing him towards solid ground. Soup blinked at the disgusting thing in his hand and tried not to vomit at the sight.

"We're not telling Q_T about this, are we?" Pepper called.

"Hell no. Not in a million years," Soup snapped at him. "Tell her this place is completely out of the question. Now get back here and help me. The block isn't gonna clear itself and I think we need to figure out what the f*** happened here."

"No way!" Pepper yelled. "Get whatever's in there out and we'll go to another site. We're already in over our heads, and I don't just mean the water level."

 **COMMUNITY DECISION: Finish clearing the dam blockage and inspect the human skull more closely.**


	6. If Only

Lily paced through the darkness outside of the camp, wishing she could be closer to the crackling fire only a few feet away. The terrible weather over Attherough had continued for days, and the wind bit right through her layers of fur armor. Her felflame blade shimmered weakly in the icy gusts. It was the worst possible conditions for her nighttime watch shift, but the rustling of wind through the trees and jagged rocks was strangely relaxing.

"Hey. You've been out here for hours."

Lily blinked and looked up. Mag stood a few feet away, holding out a steaming bowl. "You weren't around when they served dinner, so I saved you some."

"I missed dinner?" Lily rubbed her eyes and took the bowl from him. "Sorry… I lose track of time so easily out here."

"I don't know how you can stand it," the other earthwarden muttered. "Miserable damn job, especially on a night like this. I heard Doom saying it was probably going to snow later. Drink your soup and come back to camp before you freeze. It's got to be time for someone else's watch shift."

"What time is it anyway?" Lily rested her sword on the stones next to her and took a long sip. The rich broth warmed her insides and for the first time, she realized how cold she was. "That's better. Thank you."

Mag shook his head disapprovingly. "You've got to take better care of yourself. You're not eating, you're not sleeping, you're spending hours out here in the cold. What's going on?"

"I'm fine," Lily mumbled into her soup bowl. "It's nothing."

"It's not nothing. I'm worried about you."

"I just… I don't know." Lily finished the soup and picked up her weapon again. "We're never going to go home again, are we?"

"Gods above, is that what this is all about?" Mag sat down on the rock next to her and scratched at the dirt with his staff. "Luc sent our Emissary a few days ago to renegotiate our territory limits. We'll be back in the Gorge before you know it. What do you miss about that place anyway?"

"It's not about that," Lily muttered. "I grew up there. Every summer from my childhood was spent there. How can that prize bitch from the House ban us from our land?"

"Don't think about it too much," Mag said sadly. "They know we can't do anything about it. The restrictions are just there to rub it in our faces that we live under the Crown now."

"Who did Luc send as Emissary?"

"Syncro. Elivagar volunteered but Luc said he'd probably end up offending her to hell and back."

"He's not wrong."

They sat in silence for a while, listening to the wind, until Lily felt a few cold drops on her face and hands.

"There's that snow. Let's go back- wait. Did you hear that?"

Mag looked up. "What?"

Lily listened as hard as she could over the sound of the wind. "There. Behind the rock." It was the smallest of noises, but it was undoubtedly someone trying to walk quietly over the rough dirt.

"I know you are there!" Lily shouted. She raised her blade and it flared brightly through the dusk. "Show yourself!"

The noises stopped.

Mag lifted his own staff. Green light shimmered dangerously around his hands. "Should I throw a boulder?"

"Not yet. Go around and try to push them towards me." Lily took a deep breath and edged towards the sound, bracing herself for an attack. Mag crept around the other side.

She pounced on the person before they could strike. Lily dug her fingers into their neck and pulled off the hood covering their face. She frowned. It was a girl with a pale, terrified face, gaunt with hunger and cold. Her weapon lay on the ground nearby. She was no threat, Lily decided, and loosened her grip. "Who are you?"

"Please don't hurt me!" the girl cried out. She gripped Lily's hands with surprising strength in her thin fingers. "I need your help. They're hunting me…"

"Who's hunting you?" Mag demanded. "Where are you from?"

"The Queen Regent," the girl whispered. "She wants me dead."

Her eyes rolled back and she slumped to the ground, unconscious.

 **NO DECISION REQUIRED**


	7. Cloak and Dagger

The weather on the riding trail from Attherough to Stormwind was slightly less harsh than it had been in many days, but Syncro hated it all the same. To be fair, there were few things he didn't hate, but bad weather was at the top of the list, right alongside Lady Aria. She was waiting at the entrance to the House of Light when he arrived, looking far too bubbly and cheery for how early it was. Syncro took a deep breath, braced himself, and dismounted from his horse.

"Good morning, Lady Aria." He bowed slightly and held out his hand.

"Oh, my dear." Aria ignored his attempt at a handshake and enveloped him in a bear hug instead. "It has been so long since I saw you. Her Majesty is in a dreadful mood, as usual."

Syncro managed to pull away before he suffocated in her robes and perfume. "What do you mean, 'as usual'?"

Aria put her hand to her forehead. "You should have spared yourself the torture of coming here. It's utter chaos. The statue of Her Majesty in the courtyard was vandalized. The House has been on a witch hunt. Those horrid warriors are up in arms about her being affirmed as Queen. It's why I couldn't give you a proper greeting after all this hardship and travel." She sighed and looked so mournful that Syncro actually pitied her. "But the poor dear is under such a burden. Anyone weaker than our lovely Daughter of the House would have broken with the strain by now."

Syncro bit back the remark hovering at the front of his mind and pasted on a sympathetic smile. "I can hardly imagine."

"Oh, where are my manners?" Aria smoothed her robes and looked around. "You must have travelled so far to get here. Let's get inside. Would you like anything to eat or drink?"

"Tea, thank you." Syncro followed her through the House and down a long flight of stairs to her chambers and sat down on one of Aria's lurid pink velvet chairs as she poured tea for both of them. Syncro waited for her to take a sip first, then sniffed it cautiously. It smelled awful, like everything else Aria tried to cook. Evidently, even tea could be ruined by the Minister's touch.

"I ordered cakes as well, but these idiot maids from the palace are so slow. Truth be told, I've only seen two of them all week. I must speak to Her Majesty about additional staff, this is ridiculous." Aria huffed a little as she sat down and put her booted feet up on an orange silk footstool. "Her Majesty is still with the council and her nieces, trying to figure out an appropriate response to the vandalism. Hopefully they'll come to a consensus soon, but our little princesses are causing quite a ruckus. Eight years old and already trying to kill each other." Aria sipped her tea and smiled. "Truly, they are of the bloodline of the King."

"Indeed," Syncro said, without sarcasm. "How have you been, Lady Aria?"

"I've been through hell and back, but let's not talk about me, I want to hear about you. How is my darling Luc, and Nora, and Angel, and Iris?"

"They're all very well, Lady Aria. I will give them your regards when I see them again."

"Lovely. Is that dreadful Elivagar still trying to stir the pot from his council seat?"

"Yes, and he's not alone. Somehow he's found supporters for his insanity."

"How odd," Aria sighed. "I was under the impression that one needed friends in order to have supporters. Clearly I have been dis-proven."

Syncro tried not to laugh. "Luc has it under control. Truth be told, it was almost Elivagar who came to renegotiate the trade agreements."

"Oh, don't give me nightmares." Aria shuddered and shook her head. "Evidently my cakes are being imported on foot from Arathi, given the amount of time it is taking. I could have walked there myself faster."

A distant yell of fury echoed through the House. Syncro reached for his sword, but Aria just chuckled grimly and patted his hand. "I did say Her Majesty was in a bad mood. Oh, this is going to be terrifying."

Angry footsteps clicked down the stairs and the door was flung open a second later. Queen Regent Serena stormed inside, and Syncro tried not to shrink away under her glare.

"In the name of the Light," Serena began furiously, "if this takes longer than a half hour, I will-"

"Your Majesty," Aria murmured. She clambered to her feet and bowed deeply. Syncro followed suit, glad for the excuse not to look her in the eye.

"Aria, Emissary." Serena barely nodded at them before splashing tea into a cup for herself and gulping the entire thing down. "The Council continues to test my patience. One of these days…" She trailed off and Aria turned a little pale. "Never mind. Emissary, state your business unless it's the same bulls**** that Luc brought to me every damned year when he was in your place."

Syncro tried to ignore the nervousness stabbing at his gut and remember the terms he had discussed with Luc. "Um… If Your Majesty is amenable to these changes, we request that our access to the Gorge be restored during the summer season, in addition to keeping year-round passage through Thornhill. We agree to give up Attherough in exchange."

"Fine. You had better all be out of the valley by winter. But you may only have Gorge in the summer season." Serena poured herself another cup of foul-smelling tea and threw it back. "June through August. Anyone caught before or after that is trespassing on the Crown's territory at risk of their lives."

"Agreed." Syncro took a deep breath. Aria rewrote a passage of the official documents and looked up anxiously. "We also need the quantity of void shards given in the monthly trade increased to one thousand. It's very well documented that the amount in the treaty is never met-"

"I wonder whose fault that could be," Serena growled. Aria quailed under her gaze.

"It's the warriors, Your Majesty, they can't keep up production! Q_T gave a briefing to the Ministers of the House yesterday and I thought someone had told you…"

"You thought? _You thought_? You are not here to think, Aria, you are here to obey!" Serena shouted. "Quite frankly, you're not good at either one of those things." She slammed her teacup down on Aria's desk, splashing tea across the crimson carpet. "I cannot grant the tribes more void shards from a supply we do not have. In fact, I do not think we can even meet the old offer now. I send my sincere apologies to Luc, but it isn't possible until we have a new mine. The primary source outside of Stormwind is… non-functional at this time."

The door opened and a maid tiptoed in with a tray of teacakes. She let out a little squeak of panic when she saw Serena, and quickly put the tray down on a side table before bolting out the door.

"Are we finished here?" Serena asked.

"If he has no more requests of the Crown, then we are finished," said Aria meekly.

"Nothing more, Your Majesty. Thank you for your time." Syncro breathed a quiet sigh of relief as the Queen Regent yanked open the door and stormed out.

"Oh, heavens," Aria muttered. "That woman is absolutely corrosive sometimes." She picked up the plate and offered it to him. "Have a sweet, dear. I think we both need one."

Syncro took one of the frosted cakes, more out of politeness than actual hunger. "Have you finished the new agreement?"

"Yes, sign here and I will seal it for the House Vault." Aria handed him the pen and parchment. "I've delayed the trade deliveries indefinitely but we can revisit it another time when a mine is available again. I'm deeply sorry. It's just too much to handle right now."

"Understood." Syncro scribbled a quick mark on the line beneath Aria's neat handwriting and passed it back to her. "I can try to put in a good word for you with Luc and the others, but I don't know how they'll react."

"Just… speak gently of us, dear," Aria said sadly. "We are doing the best we can."

 **COMMUNITY DECISION: When reporting to the Council, Syncro will tell them, "Lady Aria is trying to arrange the new trade for us, but it will take time before they can develop a more productive mine."**


	8. Nemesister

"Concentrate, Princesses," Fioren said sternly. "Five minutes left."

Kara gritted her teeth and tapped her pencil on the desk. The words on the page in front of her seemed to melt and run together. Written tests were her worst enemy, and she'd slept through half of the classes anyway. "I'm never going to have to take a test when I'm the Queen!" Kara had protested weeks ago, but Fioren simply stared her down until she returned to her desk in defeat.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Panda offering her completed exam to the cryomancer. _That bitch…_ Kara frowned at her test again, but her concentration had already fled.

"Time is up," Fioren said sharply. "If I may remind you, being the future Queen of Stormwind does not exempt you from an education. You are fortunate this was only a practice."

Kara handed over her half-finished paper, avoiding her teacher's glare. The few questions she'd managed to finish were probably wrong anyway. She knew Panda was laughing at her, but she ignored it.

"Time for some fresh air, girls." Fioren swept over to the door and held it open for them. "Kakapos will be overseeing your second duel, along with your aunt. Both believe there were elements of unfairness in the previous fight, and wish to see another example."

 _Of course it was unfair!_ Kara wanted to shout. As if her idiot sister could ever beat her in a fair fight. But she bit her tongue and followed Fioren and Panda into the College courtyard. Some days, Kara wondered how she and Panda were related at all. The air was crisp and cold, a pleasant change from the stuffy classroom.

As soon as she stepped onto the field, she could feel the eyes of her teachers on her back.

"Over here. Opposite sides of the line. We have an aquamancer on standby, so don't worry too much about hurting each other."

Kara pulled a training sword from the rack and glanced over at Panda. She was scratching at the ground with her own blade and looked deeply nervous. _As she should._

"Fight!"

Kara barely had time to bring her sword to bear before Panda charged her. Light hummed around the smaller girl as she consecrated the ground beneath her. Golden sparks leaped up, burning Kara's skin wherever they touched. She tried to back away and regroup, but Panda slashed at her chest, forcing her to engage. All she could do was block the hail of strikes, numbing her arms with the impact.

 _Why is she so fast? I can't track her!_

Kara stabbed at Panda's left side, where she was weakest. As she dodged to the right, Kara kicked her in the knee. She stumbled and collapsed. Kara cast her own consecration spell around the fallen girl, and brought the blade down across Panda's chest. Blood streamed from the gash, staining her blue armor black. Consecrate burns bubbled up on her arms and face.

Kara raised her sword again, but Panda managed to roll out of the way and her blade drove into the dirt. Before she could pull it free, icy pain struck right through her gut. Dizziness washed over her as Panda ripped her sword out of Kara's stomach.

Time seemed to slow down. She saw the aquamancer hurrying over to her, but Panda was already drawing back her blade again, and Kara knew it would be a killing blow.

There was a flicker of movement. Gold armor flashed with Light as Panda was yanked up off the ground, screaming in terror. Kakapos ripped the weapon from her hand and punched her squarely in the jaw, sending her flying across the field.

"I believe that sword belongs to your aunt, Princess," Kara heard him say. "She is less than pleased that you cheated in two duels… and even less so that you stole a weapon from her personal armory to do it."

"The Crown is mine! Mine!" Panda screamed weakly. "She deserved it!"

"I'll be the judge of that, you stupid girl. Get up and walk back to the classroom alone so that everyone can see what a failure you are."

Kara would have laughed if she had the energy to do so, but her entire body felt like it was on fire. The aquamancer's magic took hold a few moments later, and the pain began to retreat.

"Are you alright?" Kakapos waved his hand in front of her eyes.

"Yes." Kara struggled to sit up. "What happened?"

"Her Majesty thinks your sister hid a disguised legendary weapon among the training swords so that you would be at a steep disadvantage when you fought. She might have gotten away with it too, if she hadn't left little sticky fingerprints all over the door to the armory."

"She tried to kill me," Kara murmured.

Kakapos helped her slowly get to her feet. "I am not condoning her actions, Princess, but you cannot deny you have something worth killing for: the birthright to the Crown."

Hurt welled up in Kara's chest that had nothing to do with her injuries. "But I'm her sister."

"Your aunts tried to kill each other more times than I can count, and they are twins just like you and Panda. Blood only matters when it is spilled, little one."

Kara's mind raced as Kakapos and Fioren returned to the classroom with her. She hated it, and yet it made perfect sense. Panda wanted the throne, and Kara was the only thing that stood in her way.

She would need allies, and plenty of them. Who could she go to? The College of Stormwind was powerful, but they rarely, if ever, took a side in the succession. The shamans had the most influence over the succession, but only one was really allowed in Stormwind anyway. She would need to go far out of her way to seek them out. The warriors had their own set of problems, and they probably would never trust anyone from the House of Light… but maybe they would help someone who gave them something in return. Who could she depend on?\

 **COMMUNITY DECISION: Ally with the Shamans outside of Stormwind.**


	9. While the Dead Still Speak

"Gods, this is the most disgusting thing I've ever done," Pepper complained as he swam over to where Soup was still removing various body parts from the dam. "This is a terrible idea. I'm freezing, I'm wet, I'm covered in mud, and what the hell are you going to do with those anyway?"

"I don't know, honestly," Soup admitted. So far, along with the first skull, they'd retrieved two others, most of two arms, and four leg bones. He felt around the dam drain again and found what he had thought was a cluster of sticks stuck in some mud. It was undoubtedly a ribcage.

"I think Croft is about to curl up and cry," Pepper said. The aquamancer was sitting on the shore, holding his head, and rocking back and forth. "He's a little… fragile."

"I noticed," Soup muttered. "I think this whole torso is still connected, just not the arms or legs. Help me get it out of here."

Pepper grimaced, but waded deeper into the murk. "Alright, I think I'm holding a hip bone. Pull?"

"Yeah. Slowly."

The two warriors braced themselves and pulled. There was a slight scraping as the bone was dragged across the stony edge, but it popped free. Soup was rewarded with the sound of running water as it began to flow freely out of the drain once more.

"That's one open. Let's put the bones on the shore and try to figure out what's blocking the others."

A few hours later, the drains were flowing strong and the floodwaters were receding. Soup and Pepper looked at the carnage laid out on land, speechless with horror.

"How many?" Pepper finally asked.

"Eighteen skulls with twenty ribcages, so probably a total of twenty victims. Obviously we're missing a lot of other parts. They're probably way downstream in Thornhill though." Soup glanced back at Croft. He was laying down, curled up in a fetal position.

Pepper unhooked his hammer from his belt and poked at one of the less-decomposed torsos that still had clothing. "Blue robes and plain hoods, or at least they started out blue. Heard anything in Stormwind about twenty missing mages?"

"Are you sure they're from Stormwind?"

"Mages in Doriven and Arathi wear red, and these were definitely never red."

"Haven't heard anything," Soup said. He looked at the bones again and racked his brain. "I used to know how to identify people from skeletons. Actually, Croft would know, if he was taught in Stormwind. I learned it from Ender and Plikie after they left the College and went to Arathi."

"He'll pass out again if you ask him to get this close." Pepper looked at the remains again. "Here's what we know. We have twenty dead people wearing Stormwind mage robes. They're all somewhat short, and they've been in the water for different amounts of time. The freshest one is definitely female and had blonde hair. The one who's only bones is taller than the others and has been dead much longer."

Soup nodded slowly. "That's pretty good."

Pepper shrugged and started wringing water out of his tunic and trousers. "We don't know how any of them died, and we don't know who they were. If they'd been students at the College, everyone would be up in arms. You're sure you heard nothing about anyone disappearing or dying?"

"Not like this," Soup said.

Footsteps squished in the mud as Croft came tottering over to them. "Hey guys, are you done…" He trailed off when he saw the makeshift graveyard.

"Croft I don't think that's a good idea," Pepper began.

"No… I think I'm ok. It just gave me a really bad shock when you started waving that skull around out of nowhere." The aquamancer covered his nose and mouth with his hands. "What a stink."

"If you're done fainting, help us figure out who these belonged to." Soup tried to keep the temper out of his voice, but it was difficult. Aquamancers were notoriously high-strung and hard to deal with.

"The tall one was the oldest," Croft said shakily. "The rib ends aren't as smooth as they are on the other skeletons. And… I think it was female. The hip bones are wider."

"Can you look at the fresher one?" Soup asked."At least she still has a face."

"There's not much left on her," Croft muttered. "All we have is the hair. Her face is too swollen to get a good picture of what she looked like, and the clothes are drenched in mud. Looks like the neck decomposed very fast though. I need a better look… " He drew his sword and carefully prodded the dead girl's head to the side before covering his face with his hood and kneeling down next to it. "There's a deep scratch across the ends of the first neck vertebra. Her throat was slit by someone incredibly strong. It almost decapitated her."

"At least it was fast," Pepper murmured.

"Yes. But it's a messy death. I'm willing to bet there's a lot of blood spray on a surface somewhere." Croft seemed to be regaining his composure as he looked at the other remains. "They're all female. The tallest one is the oldest, probably in her 40's. Looks like she had at least one child. Sixteen of them were young teenagers; I can see the wisdom teeth are still inside the jaws. The last one still has baby teeth, so maybe around 8 years old. I don't know what to tell you about the ones without heads, but we've probably got a pattern here."

"Who could do that to a child?" Pepper asked, horrified.

"A monster," Soup said quietly. "Look. Right now, we need to figure out what to do. Someone who can completely conceal the murders of twenty trainee mages is not someone we want to mess with."

"We need to tell the College," Croft said. "They'll have a team out here by tomorrow to set this straight."

"We need to tell Q_T," Pepper said firmly. "If Crossfire was someone's makeshift graveyard, we've got to let the House know."

"I say we keep it secret," Soup said. "We're all safe as long as no one knows what we know."

 **COMMUNITY DECISION: Inform Q_T and the House of Light that the bodies of 20 female trainee mages were found in the Crossfire Dam.**


	10. Coldhearted

After another day of waiting for the mine appraisal, and no word from Q_T, a note was delivered from the College to Axoy with the notice that a team was arriving at the site later that evening to inspect the sealed mine. Pran and Natalie met him at the charred doors and together they waited for the mages to show up. The mine felt eerie without the usual crowd of people bustling around.

They didn't wait long. Hoofbeats echoed across the gravel path coming up from the city and Axoy could see two riders dressed in blue and silver making their way towards the mine.

"That must be them. I'll go meet them," Natalie said, and hurried away. Axoy took a deep breath and drew his sword. Pran looked nervous, but did the same. Neither of them wanted to relive their harrowing escape from the horde behind the iron doors.

The first thing they heard was the lead rider shouting at Natalie.

"All right, all right! Get out of my face! Just get these damn doors open. I've got one f***ing job here and I don't want to be around this godforsaken place longer than I have to." The cryomancer swung off his horse and threw the reins around a pole.

"Which asshole did they send us?" Pran asked quietly.

"No idea. He sounds like every damn mage stereotype and probably fights like it too," Axoy whispered back. "We'll make it really quick. They'll get a look at these bitches, piss themselves a little, and then we'll leave. Ten minutes, tops."

He thought he heard Natalie say "Good luck" nearby, but when he turned around, she was already walking away with the second mage's horse towards the makeshift stables.

"You in charge of this s***hole?" the cryo snapped at him.

"More or less." Axoy pointed to the doors. "Once we open these, you either kill everything that's in there or we all die. Got it?"

"Sounds fun. Actually I'll open it myself, just stay behind me. Heatran, move your ass out of the way." The cryo tapped his Frostbite on the doors. "Seems like a pretty trivial seal; I'm shocked it hasn't been broken."

"The House basically just threw warm bodies with a basic understanding of pyromancy at us. I wasn't expecting miracles. Who are you, anyway?"

"I'm Sheer. This is Heatran. He needs to gather some data on the mine interior, and it's gonna be our job to protect him while he does that because he's more useless than usual when he's busy. We had a third, but he decided to go be useless somewhere else."

"Okay." Axoy was dubious, but he tried not to let it show. "Where exactly?"

"He's in the dead mine on the other side of Stormwind near the passage to Doriven. Cthuko wanted 'control data' so that he can compare the information when we get back. Honestly I could have just told him that he's not gonna find s*** in a dead mine, but Creaam takes any excuse to not pull his f***ing weight." Sheer put his hands on either side of the welded seam. "Stand back and cover your eyes. This is going to shatter."

Ice poured off his fingers and flowed across the metal, coating the rusted iron with pure white frost. Axoy could hear the joints creaking and groaning as it froze. Sheer wedged the point of his Frostbite into the crack between the doors, and kicked hard. Dark fractures spread out from the impact, but it didn't break. He scowled and hit it again, with the same result.

"Well that didn't work. Uh, give it a ground slam. Nothing too violent." He moved out of the way as Heatran shot him a judgmental glare. "Don't look at me like that."

Axoy tried not to think about what might be waiting just behind the door, and cast the spell right in front of the doors. The ground heaved as they tore and shattered. Metal shards flew in every direction and he felt a few stinging his arms and face. He blinked the dust out of his eyes and raised his sword, ready for an onslaught.

"This… looks empty," said Sheer. He looked down into the mineshaft and shrugged. "Are these stairs safe?"

"They're broken at the bottom so watch your step. I think there's still some lights burning down here. At least the pyros knew how to light a damn torch." Axoy and Pran went inside first, with Sheer and Heatran following and Natalie bringing up the rear. "Do what you have to do and let's get the hell out before they actually do show up again."

The cryos wandered down to the end of the staircase and poked around at the defunct equipment. Axoy's nerves were raw from stress. He looked around again and again, watching for movement, but nothing happened.

"Okay, time for guard duty. I don't know how long this is going to take." Sheer tapped his Frostbite against a dark purple vein in the wall. "Are these void shards?"

"Yeah. We didn't clear this mine out before the incidents got too close together to keep working. Do you need a sample of them?"

"I'll get it." Sheer picked at the crystals with the point of his sword, crumbling away the softer rock. Heatran was waving his own Frostbite and mumbling inaudible words. Tiny streaks of icy energy trailed through the air.

"Is this… smoking?" Sheer asked. "Huh, it's like this wall is on fire or something. It's spreading everywhere."

"Get away from there!" Natalie screamed.

Axoy knew what it was before he saw it. Sheer stumbled back and managed to block the first few claw swipes of the void monster as it billowed out of the broken crystal. Two others followed in quick succession. Heatran was still muttering obliviously in the background.

"S***! Pran, keep him alive. Sheer, I don't know what contact you have with your third teammate, but tell him to get his ass in here now. Natalie, stay with me. I don't know how many are about to come through. We need to keep them from getting to the surface. Those doors aren't going to close anymore."

The first three were easy to deal with. Sheer blasted the group with bolts, blinding the glaring purple eyes. Axoy stabbed one through the head, and Natalie cast a seismic wave over the remaining monsters, forcing them down. Sheer blew a powerful freezing breath over them and swung the Frostbite, slicing through where their necks should have been. The smoky forms crumbled into bits of ice and vapor. But more were coming, flowing out of the shard vein.

There was a soft thud. Ethereal silvery shields flickered up around each of them as Pran's last stand spell took effect. Natalie struck at another pair of lidless eyes as the claws swept down, missing her by inches. Heatran's mumbling was getting louder, but Axoy wasn't sure whether that was good or not. The mine was crowded with misty forms and slashing claws; ten maybe, or fifteen.

"He's almost done. Hang in there." Sheer looked battered and a little bruised, but he was still on his feet. Two monsters shattered into heaps of ice.

"Did you have a plan for closing the doors?" Axoy gasped. Another monster howled and its claws ripped through his arm. He ignored the pain and tried to look for Natalie, but she was behind too much of the nearby equipment.

"I figured we'd cross that bridge when we got to it!" Sheer flickered and vanished, reappearing across the room next to Heatran. "He's done! Grab that crystal and let's get out!"

Axoy managed to scoop up the broken void shard as Pran cast an intervene over him. Natalie grabbed his hand and they ran for the entrance. Heatran aimed a frostbolt over his shoulder, knocking a monster off of the stairwell, but they were surging up from the base. The intervene broke off and agony tore across Axoy's back. His vision went black and he almost fell.

A hand grabbed him by the back of his armor and dragged him into the fading twilight. Unbearable cold washed over him and he managed to roll away from the source. The third cryomancer stood at the destroyed mine entrance, raising walls of blue ice across the tunnel mouth. Heatran was brushing himself off while Sheer gasped out almost inaudible insults at his teammate.

"Take the L and shut up. I saved your life and all I get is this s***." Creaam finished closing the mineshaft and jabbed Sheer with the business end of his Broccomace. "Next time I won't bother."

"Fine. I don't care." Sheer wandered over to Axoy. "Here, I'll take the shard."

Axoy passed it to him and he tucked it away in the pocket of his armor. "When are we going to hear about a solution?"

"When we figure out what the hell happened in there, and how to stop it. Might take a while, though. In the meantime, stay safe and don't tell the House that we were here. Fontn's already on bad terms with them." Sheer rolled his eyes. "He's not exactly subtle about the fact that he's sheltering the Fallen Princess at the College. Now that Serena runs things, I won't be surprised if he gets ordered to give her up for execution next week."

"Gods," Axoy muttered. Natalie and Pran came over, wounded and bloodstained but alive.

"Let's get the hell out of here. Nothing to do now but wait."

NO COMMUNITY DECISION NEEDED


	11. Finale: The Hearts of Light

_"Though we live in the darkness of the mortal world,  
_  
 _I walk the Path of the Light, and may It bless me through all my days."_

Serena let the last words of her chant echo through the hall. The gathered paladins murmured among themselves as they left the House.

She sighed and poured herself some wine. The Service always left her throat very dry from speaking so long, but it was her favorite part of the week. It was a time for her to offer up control and responsibility to something greater and higher than herself. She felt as weightless and radiant as Light itself as she moved through the prayers and songs, and feeling the eyes of the gathered masses on her was sweeter than any drug.

"Your Majesty… a moment of your time, please." Serena turned around to see Alanyxe standing nervously behind her, twisting a folded piece of parchment in her hands.

"Can it wait?"

"No, this is crucial. I'm sorry, Your Majesty. Dismiss the Queensguard as well."

"Fine. Come this way." Serena brushed aside the curtain behind the pulpit and unlocked the door to the Daughter's chambers. "Guards, remain outside. I cannot be disturbed."

Her guards bowed deeply and stood on either side of the door. She and Alanyxe stepped inside, and Serena pushed a screen across the room so that she could change her robes in privacy.

"Your Majesty, Lady Q_T brought me this addendum to the mine report. In addition to their assertion that Crossfire is not viable for mining, they discovered something deeply disturbing."

"Details, Alanyxe. My time is precious and I haven't got all day." Serena undid the high collar and her sash and placed them in the wardrobe.

"They retrieved the remains of upwards of twenty human bodies clogging the dam drains. Not only did it drown Crossfire in floodwaters, but the bodies were positively identified to be from Stormwind. It is assumed all are female, of varying ages, and they wore the robes of mages in training. The levels of decomposition vary, but it was estimated that the most recent set of remains is approximately a week and a half old."

Serena's heart nearly stopped.

"Who else knows about this?" she demanded.

"Only Q_T, Your Majesty."

 _Good..._ Serena thought about how to phrase her next sentence and thanked the Light that the idiot appraisers hadn't taken the report to the College. She could handle issues within the House, but dealing with that nosy old Fontn and his pet rat Cthuko was another issue entirely.

"Alanyxe, if you believed that the House of Light was in danger, what would you do?"

There was a brief, confused silence.

"Your Majesty, I don't see what that has to do with the situation at hand-"

"What would you do?"

"I would do anything, Your Majesty. It was the oath I took when… when your sister affirmed me as Minister of the House." Alanyxe sounded very nervous, but Serena decided to be gentle with her and not push the issue of Lucy.

"I took that oath as well." She studied her own face and body in the wall mirror, wondering if she liked what she saw. She was undoubtedly prettier than Lucy, but there was something about her twin sister that made men flock to her instead. "' _I am the Light in the darkness, the Heart among cowards. No deed is too dark, nor any sacrifice too great when the Void threatens to swallow us all.'_ I did not know what those words meant until my brother fell sick."

Alanyxe was very quiet. Serena almost wondered if she was still there.

"He had a fever, as you know. A slow lingering death whose progress could not be stopped by any power in our world." She tightened the corset laces herself and began buttoning up the front of her gown. "I could not ease his passing. But I could ease his mind, while he still had it. His greatest fear was that the knowledge of the Emerald Heart would spread from the House. My idiot sister was excommunicated from the House and estranged from us after she threatened to reveal it."

"I know, Your Majesty. I was there."

"He mentioned the Emerald Heart to his maids while he was delirious. I caught them speaking of it one day to their superior, a woman called DarkAngel. It would have been a terrible loss of face for the House if they had been able to discover its purpose through his ramblings."

"Indeed, Your Majesty."

"Light forgive me," Serena murmured. She set the crown of Stormwind on her head and pushed back the screens. "I had the woman and her daughter executed along with the four who spoke of the Heart. But it was not enough. All twenty of them were isolated from the rest of the palace because of my brother's needs, but as he deteriorated, I knew they must all die."

Alanyxe's mouth fell open in shocked horror. "It… Your Majesty?"

"I kept my oath of protection to the House, Alanyxe. I am asking you to do the same."

"But the deaths-"

"Unavoidable collateral damage. I could not waste valuable time from the Ministers or the House acolytes to care for him. The maids were expendable."

"I…" Alanyxe blinked for a few moments, then took a deep shaky breath. "Very well, Your Majesty."

"You are positive that no one else knows about this?" Serena asked her.

"Only Lady Q_T and the warriors who went to the appraisal site, Your Majesty."

"Good. If they question us, tell them that the House is conducting an investigation, but say no more."

"Yes, Your Majesty."


	12. Finale: Our Own Worst Enemy

"Well?" Luc asked. "What was the response?"

"Nothing, probably," Elivagar muttered.

"I have good news and bad news," Syncro said. "I ask for the Council's patience and understanding. This is not a matter that will be settled through conflict."

The rest of the gathered shamans murmured assent.

"The Crown has agreed to return the Gorge territory to us, in exchange for Attherough. Summer only, but we are permitted year-round in Thornhill."

Luc looked shocked and gratified. "That is excellent news."

"Unfortunately… the primary mine for void shards in Stormwind went out of production several days ago. Neither Aria nor the Regent knew if they would be able to meet the trade quota for several months until a new one is established. She is trying to arrange the new higher amount for us, but it will take time."

There were two seconds of stunned silence before the Council flew into an uproar. Every member was on their feet screaming in an instant, while Luc flailed around trying to quiet them.

"She said that? And you believed her! Idiot! The Crown has been looking for an excuse to cut us off for years!" Lily pointed her felflame blade at Syncro and the ground trembled around her feet. "Traitor!"

"The House would have destroyed us centuries ago if they wanted us gone!" Nightwolf shouted back. "They have no reason to lie!"

"The House and the Crown have never been united like this!" Elivagar snapped. "They control everything but the College now!"

"Silence. Silence! You have brought nothing but dissent into our ranks, for no reason other than your own selfish cause!" Luc brandished his Gemini and the ground shook violently. Sparks from the fire flew everywhere, amidst the cries of panic from the other Council members. "None of you understand the risks of defying them. The fact that anything was granted to us at all is a miracle! We cannot keep pushing our luck!"

"Only because you will not allow it!" Doom argued. "All of us know we cannot go on like this. Territory bans, the threat of extermination by the House hanging over us every day, and now they refuse to supply us after teaching us to depend on them. We have nothing left to lose!"

"Enough!" Luc shouted. Earthen spikes tore apart the ground and erupted under Elivagar's feet. He stumbled and fell to his knees. Everyone went quiet, looking up at the chieftain in shocked horror.

"I have been considering a solution that would unite our tribe again," Luc said. "But after what I have seen here, there is only one way. Elivagar, you and those who call themselves your followers are hereby banished from the Council and the tribe. You threaten our survival under the Crown for a reality that no longer exists, and we grow more divided by the day. We cannot stand apart like this and hope to remain unscathed."

"You can't do this!" Mag shouted. "How can you exile us for speaking our minds?"

"I can, and I have. You will abandon Attherough Valley by tonight. Do not darken this place with your presence ever again."

Elivagar slowly got to his feet, drawing his weapon. Green energy glittered dangerously around his hands and the felflame blade.

"This means war," the earthwarden said quietly. "You will regret this."

"Are you threatening-"

Luc broke off with a gasp of pain, clutching his side. Blood spurted from between his fingers as Nora ripped the violet blades of her void twig from his body.

"That was hurt," Nora murmured sadly. "I stand with them."

Chain heals arced across the room in a web of green light. Luc managed to summon his healing totem as he collapsed. Iris screamed and lunged at Nora, but a capacitor totem flared up, knocking her away. The earthwarden girl bolted for the door as Doom and Angel unleashed a storm of lightning bolts through the chaos. Syncro tried to return fire, but they were already backing away. Iris was clutching her face and holding her ruby thorn in shaky hands. Lightning burns webbed her cheek and neck where the totem had struck her. Elivagar, Mag, and Lily disappeared outside, and soon the two thunderlords retreated and followed them out.

"Coward!" Iris shrieked. She started to go after them, but Syncro grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Let them run. Luc needs help."

The chieftain was lying on his side, gasping for air. The totem had closed the gash in his side, but he moved slowly and seemed to still be in great pain. Nightwolf was helping him sit up while Cadences cast a second healing totem nearby.

"How could they do this?" Cadences whispered. "They're going to get us all killed if they confront the Regent alone." Her totem pulsed softly in the firelight. Syncro could see Iris' burns starting to fade.

"I confirmed her as the queen. She will not betray me. Not after what I saw." Luc's breathing was becoming smoother and calmer. "But they are right. I am afraid of her. The Crown of Stormwind has not been united with the House of Light since the first of the Red Kings died."

"What should we do?" Nightwolf asked.

"For now, carry on as if nothing happened. We cannot risk the House losing faith in us so soon after the new agreement. But they must be stopped."

"We have to be able to bring them back," Syncro said, trying to reassure him. "Maybe if they can be persuaded that it is too dangerous…"

"I do not want you to try and persuade them," Luc said fiercely. "I want you to bring me their heads."


	13. Finale: I Am Not Who I Am

Later that night, Kara threw on a heavy fur cloak over her pajamas and climbed out of her window, using the ivy on the Palace walls to slide down to the ground. It was too dark for the street lamps to cast much light, and the city was almost empty.

She had to see Zincamania. Maybe he could talk to Luc on her behalf. Serena had insisted that she not mention the incident with Panda to anyone, but she had decided that the shamans were her best option. The chieftain of the shamans had confirmed every single ruler of Stormwind, and even if she died, at least she could try to make a deal with them. Kara tried not to smile with satisfaction when she thought of what would happen. Panda would never wear the Crown.

Zincamania lived near the Palace, separate from the House of Light and the warriors' quarter. Shamans were not allowed in the city, but he was generally overlooked by the Crown for his services to the House and the College. Serena had grudgingly allowed Kara and Panda to take lessons from him, and he had taught Kara a few basic lightning tricks. It was a long stretch to think he might trust her, but it was her only chance.

There was a light on in his small home, and two voices arguing inside. Who was awake at this time of night? Kara crouched down behind a dense hedge and listened as hard as she could. She probably didn't have much time before the Queensguard realized she was missing.

"Idiot! Do you understand what I risked? Decades spent gaining the trust of the House and the Regent, on the line for you and your foolish ways." It was Zinc scolding his visitor. Kara tried to suppress the panic that bubbled up in her stomach every time he was angry with her. Last time, he'd burnt her fingers with lightning until they were numb.

"I'm not saying that I'm not grateful!" the visitor snapped. "You chose possibly the worst time to bring me here-"

"The Regent does not care about the shamans, only that the warriors know their place. If you use what little sense you have to keep your head down and your mouth closed, you will remain unseen. I know they are in chaos now, but their focus is not on me."

"Any outsiders will be suspect! Word will reach the Crown soon that the shamans have fallen into civil war, and you will be thrown out as well. Come back with me. None of us should be anywhere near Stormwind when they hear of it."

"Loco, how many times have I told you? They do not consider me an outsider. You, on the other hand, are forbidden from being anywhere near the city. Take my notes and rejoin Elivagar. Where is he now?"

"They're making their way to Thornhill." Loco's footsteps clicked back and forth across the room. He was probably pacing, Kara thought. "I don't know how long they'll be able to stay. It is already too late in the year to remain in the forest. Perhaps if they moved to Crossfire for now?"

"Crossfire is uninhabitable. I do not know why." Zinc sounded exasperated. "In the summer, the tribe will be in Gorge and Thornhill. Can the Unbroken move to Neolithic from there?"

"Yes," Loco said. "But I don't know where they can go if Luc starts actively hunting them down. Shamans are still welcome in the city of Arathi, but we all know that is the first place they will look."

"It is months away. We still have time. Just get my information to Elivagar. I can only pray that he listens to me. They will be in terrible danger if they plan to defy the House, and they have no leverage."

"His heart rules his hand," Loco muttered.

"It always has," Zinc said. "How many of the others left the tribe with him?

"Thirty, give or take. Some refused to leave and were executed. But they do have leverage. I spoke to Lily before I left the camp. She told me of some source of information that she and Mag are sheltering. Not even Elivagar knows about it yet. It is an outsider."

"From Stormwind?" Zinc asked.

"Yes."

"How unusual. What do they know?"

"Lily did not say. But she spoke of the Emerald Heart. I do not know the specifics."

"The only person with details of the Heart is the Fallen Princess," Zinc said. "Is it her?"

"Again, I don't know," Loco snapped at him.

"Fine. In the meantime, we must wait. Elivagar will not be pleased but we need to remain invisible. I have no faith in the Queen Regent, but the twin heirs are useful, for now. Anything that draws the attention of the House and the Regent away from me is useful."

Kara realized her legs were numb from crouching. She frowned and tried to think about what she had heard. The shaman tribes were at war with each other? What was going on?

"The Princesses are rather endearing, for what they are worth," Zinc was saying. "The older one shows signs of certain Thunderlord gifts. I wish I could train her in the traditional way, but her tyrant of an aunt permits me very little time with either of them. The younger one prefers earthwarden, but does not enjoy our lessons. She seems withdrawn, but I know the bloodline of the Red King. The girl has deadly ambitions that she hides behind a passive shell."

"Do either of them know?" Loco asked.

"About me? No, of course not. They are children. You know how children talk. But I am not a stranger to them, and perhaps the heir to the throne will be the one who supports the Unbroken, if it comes to that." Zinc rustled some papers and Kara could hear him folding them up.

"Take these to the camp and warn him about the delicate situation here. The Regent was shockingly truthful with Syncro about the situation in the mines. We must find a way without force to try and turn the rest of the tribe to our cause. It does not help us that Nora attacked Luc. Idiot girl, trying to kill an Earthwarden. Even if she had struck a mortal blow, it is unlikely that he would have died."

"I know," Loco said. "I told her. It only makes my work harder."

"Here, I've made up a place for you to stay in the attic. I have a problem with visitors from the College at unusual times and they must not be allowed to see you here. Remove your mask and wear warrior armor if you need to leave the house."

"Thank you. I won't stay long."

The lights inside flickered out. Footsteps creaked up the stairs to the attic.

Kara began the short walk back to her room in the chilly darkness, thanking the Light that no Queensguard had come looking for her. She climbed back up the ivy-covered wall and turned their words over in her head.

" _The heir to the throne will be the one who supports the Unbroken_ …"


	14. The Observation

"You're alive," Cthuko said when Creaam walked into his office. "I'm shocked."

"Sorry to disappoint," Creaam snarled. "I'm sure you were hoping for three body bags." He tossed a roll of papers at the smug pyromancer. "Here. The logs from the survey."

Cthuko said nothing as he unrolled them and examined the contents. "Everything seems to be in order. Get your team in here. Fontn will be here sometime in the next two hours, but he didn't really say when."

"Typical." Creaam went outside and found Sheer and Heatran trying to duel on the front lawn. Frostbolts sprayed across every visible surface. One exploded just over his head.

"Holy s***, stop, stop!" Creaam blocked a frostbolt across his shield and stepped in between them. "Get inside. Fontn is going to hear it in two hours."

"Wow, I didn't know he was serious about this," Sheer remarked. "I thought he just wanted us dead." He put away his Frostbite and held open the heavy front doors for his teammates. "Go on. Age before beauty."

Heatran snorted loudly but went ahead.

To everyone's surprise, Fontn was already there. The old Pyromancer had his feet up on the desk and looked bored out of his mind. Cthuko was fussing over the reports and laying out assorted notes and diagrams.

"So who do you want to hear from first? The guy who did everything or the guy who did nothing?" Sheer looked pointedly at Creaam.

"I'd like to hear from the one who talks fastest," Fontn grunted. "Get on with it. I've had three hours of sleep with the Regent whining in my ear like a mosquito. And no one has brought my tea."

"Okay." Heatran pointed at the first two diagrams. "Monsters in the shard mines are real. Claws, fangs, murderous intent, blah, blah, blah. Only present when the void shard crystals are broken off a vein. Intact crystals are benign."

Fontn yawned loudly. "M'kay."

"Creaam's analysis found no monsters in dead mines where dust is present but no shards. Obviously we're not going to suggest sending the workers to those because the cost of smelting dust into shards is too high. The question we need to answer is what happens when the crystals are broken, and why?"

"Are we at your conclusions yet?" Fontn snapped.

"Uh, we can be." Heatran flipped over a few more pages. "I recorded and analyzed the reaction after Sheer broke the crystal and we were attacked. There was an incredible energy surge that did not dissipate after the break, and the first monster appeared seconds after it happened. I believe they're being generated straight out of the surge. Clearly they're not just popping out of thin air for no reason. We need to find a way to lower that energy or restrain it somehow so that it doesn't do this."

"Have you tried anything yet?"

"Here's the embarrassing part," Heatran said bleakly. "I tried submerging and breaking a shard sample in water, then ice. The theory was that energy in the form of heat would be absorbed into the medium without concentrating." He nervously shifted from foot to foot. "I'm pretty sure the entire College could hear me trying to kill that thing before it got out of my lab. Needless to say, it didn't work."

"It's not heat energy," Creaam said. "Dangerous heat surges would have killed all of the warriors by now if it was. It's more like the energy we all channel to cast spells, so my theory was to create a sort of bubble around the broken shard, using an extension of my arcane shield. I thought it would be absorbed into the shield and disappear." He spread out his notes, which were slightly charred around the edges. "It… I don't even know what happened. The shield augmented the surge instead of absorbing it. The beaker I was using exploded in my face and blew out every window in my lab. Yes, I've already been to an aquamancer. Rainbow and Tgger dug broken glass out of my forehead for two hours. I'm sure they'll tell you all about it."

"Well that's disgusting." Fontn took his feet off the desktop and sat upright. "Okay, you tried. Sheer, got anything for me?"

"I haven't tested this at all." Sheer pointed to his notes. "But here's the calculations. I'm not trying to somehow vent the energy output. We need to find a way around the surge and prevent it from happening at all. I came up with this chemical reaction that we tested last year for large scale blast mining. It puts off a huge amount of energy that we might be able to redirect into magic dust to fuse into artificial void shards without the smelting process. The issue is that… I can't test it without the possibility of blowing everything up if it goes wrong."

"Why is it always you who wants to blow things up?" Fontn muttered. "Every time… Hmm. This is a modified version of what we did last year. The materials are cheap and readily available. This is very economical, but I have serious doubts about this working."

"I have serious doubts about Sheer working," Creaam said quietly.

"Shut up," Sheer hissed. "I'm trying to calculate a small version of it for testing, but it's difficult. The energy output doesn't scale regularly at all. I've found no pattern in the lab records from last time. Either it puts out too little and nothing will happen, or it puts out too much and I'll end up killing myself and half of the College."

"Please do," Heatran said under his breath.

"I swear to the gods," Sheer began.

"L," Creaam whispered.

"All of you, knock it off," Fontn growled. "Get your individual teams together and start figuring out something else that isn't a death sentence for everyone involved. Cthuko, assign three more full teams to the project. I'm putting a gag order on the entire College until it's done. You do not discuss this with anyone, especially the Ministers. The Regent is hounding me about her sister all day anyway, and the last thing we need is the House wondering why we're suddenly taking an interest in the mines."

"They don't even have a new one yet, do they?" Heatran asked.

"Nope. The Ministers of the House sent a new team today to try out a site at the Neolithic ravine. They're really desperate if they're looking in a goddamn desert two days out from anywhere civilized."

"Neolithic? What was wrong with Crossfire? I surveyed it myself, those sites can't be all bad," Sheer protested.

"There's something fishy going on at Crossfire but I don't dare ask the Regent when she's in a mood like this. The original appraisal team was laid off and everyone is banned from the site on the orders of the House. I wish I knew something about it."

"Weird," Creaam said. "Alright. I'll go back to the lab and try again. Given a couple of weeks, we'll figure something out."

 **NO COMMUNITY DECISION**


	15. The Question

"Are we there yet?"

"I will cut out your tongue and feed it to you if you ask again."

"Just wondering."

Tiff rubbed the bridge of her nose and resisted the urge to reach for her sword. The House of Light had repeatedly denied her request to work with Pepper and Croft at the Neolithic site, and had dumped three mages from the College at Doriven on her instead. She wasn't sure how helpful they were going to be, but at least she had someone to blame when Axoy and Q_T inevitably yelled at her.

"This is the chasm entrance," Echo said nervously. "The site is about fifty feet in. We'll have to leave our horses at some point before it gets too narrow, but I think we're good for now. No one's claustrophobic, right?"

"I am," said Rainblaze weakly.

Tiff could feel her blood pressure rising. "They sent a claustrophobic mage to investigate a mine? Did you consider the fact that we might be underground for a while?"

"It was an order!" Rainblaze protested. "If Pykxe orders you to jump off a bridge, you don't say no, you ask if he wants you to do a backflip on the way down."

"Gods. Well it's too late now. Sport, look after him and get him out of here if you think he's about to lose it. Let's get this over with."

They rode through the trail at the bottom of the chasm. The stone walls pressed closer and closer on either side until the horses couldn't continue. Tiff wedged the reins underneath a large boulder and the four walked single-file along the path. She didn't mind being in a closed space. All warriors grew accustomed to it after enough time spent in the mines.

"This is it," Echo said. They were in a larger area of the crevasse, with natural pillars of broken stone and two more ravines that cut across their path. "Those are paths that go to the surface from the site. It's a long way up; leaves you about a mile from where you started and the horses can't fit."

"Are you sure this is the right area?" Tiff asked. "I can't imagine the House spending time and money on developing something this labor-intensive."

Echo shrugged. "Unless this map is wrong, we're here. I guess they're under some pressure to restore a shard source. Any source."

"All right. Sport, you're with me. Echo, take Rainblaze and set up a perimeter. There's probably nothing wrong out here, but I want to do this safe and fast." Tiff took out her appraisal papers and started making notes. "'Very poor accessibility. No natural water and no signs that it was ever here. Rocks and sand as far as I can see.'" Tiff stopped writing and frowned. Something was scratching nearby. She had thought it was only her pencil on the paper, but it was still coming from somewhere behind her. "Do you hear that?"

"What?" Sport pulled down his hood and slowly turned around. "Yeah. Sort of a dry scraping. The echoes in here are making it worse than it seems. I wouldn't worry. It's probably just the wind blowing sand over the rocks up top."

"Okay." Tiff tried to block out the sound as she brushed at the layered rock faces with her hands. Years of dust sifted to the ground, revealing the dark purple streaks of void shards.

"Would you look at that?" Sport said. "A good site, for once."

"They're not the best quality, but there's plenty of them here and it's all in the open. We won't have to go underground at all." Tiff wrote a few more lines on the appraisal. "'Visible veins in the rock face with minimal to no alteration of the original landscape. No way to measure how deep the veins actually go, but I'm willing to bet on this site. I do recommend this for development, and I have been truthful to the extent of my knowledge.'" She signed it with a flourish and folded it up again. "We're done. Seems like a waste of effort after all this travel. Where are Echo and Rainblaze? The perimeter wasn't really needed."

"I'm over here," Echo called faintly. His voice seemed to reverberate through the chasm, and it was impossible to know where it was actually coming from. "We found something… and you're not going to like this at all."

Tiff gritted her teeth and prayed that she wouldn't find anything that invalidated the site. It had been almost two days of travel out of Doriven to even reach the damn place, and she wasn't about to give up on it easily.

"Sport, come on. Echo, I can't tell where you are. Can you see me?"

"Yes, just keep walking forward and turn right. I'm on the other side of this crevice in the rock. You need to come through and look at this. I don't even know what I'm seeing." An arm and a leg appeared from behind a boulder, followed by Echo's face. He was covered in dust and there were cobwebs clinging to his hood. "Can you fit through here?"

Tiff examined the crack. It was small, and completely hidden behind the boulder until she looked from a certain angle. "I don't know. Can you try to describe what's in there?"

"There's a huge room full of dust and broken crap, but then there's a hole in the ground and blast debris. It looks like something exploded, but there's also some kind of skeleton in the hole too, I think? It's not damaged at all but there's stuff missing."

Adrenaline shot through Tiff's veins. "Wait, did you say there's a body? Can you tell who it is?"

"No, I can't tell who it is from the damn ribcage, the arms, and two femurs." Echo's voice took on an impatient edge. "Just get in here. Rainblaze is in here too and he's fine. The space is huge behind this wall."

Tiff put down her sword and pushed it through the crack in the rock. "Alright, I'm coming in. Do you have a light?"

"I made a torch. We're fine. Just hurry."

She turned sideways and squeezed through. It wasn't comfortable, but she didn't get stuck. The aquamancer wedged himself through after her. The air inside was cool and dry, and the floor was covered in soft sand. A light appeared in the gloom and Echo waved at her to follow him.

"This way. Down here."

He lowered the torch and pointed down. "See? What's that?"

Tiff peered into the deep pit. It was undoubtedly a grave, a perfectly oval hollow whose sides were pocked with blast marks. Debris lay everywhere around the outside. At the bottom, the remnants of a dusty skeleton lay among ceramic pots and other items. Tiff thought she saw a sparkle of gold among the artifacts. There was a long black sword lying at the skeleton's side, almost buried in other things, and she thought it might have been a void edge.

"Someone important was buried here," Tiff said. "But where are the other bones? It's like someone robbed the grave and only took the remains. They even left his weapon."

"I'm more scared of the fact this wasn't broken from the outside," Rainblaze said. There was a tremor in his voice and Tiff figured he wouldn't last long before he had a full-blown panic attack. "It came outwards. The remains should be buried in broken rocks, but all the pieces are on the outside. Is that thing… that thing still alive?"

"Impossible, it's dead," Tiff said firmly. "And it's been dead for decades, maybe even longer." She gripped the edges and leaned over even farther. "The arms are crossed over the ribcage. The hands were together. That's strange. Usually people are buried holding their weapons."

"Maybe it was something even more valuable," Echo suggested. "Something small, but worth more than anything else in there."

Rainblaze grunted loudly nearby as he heaved up a huge piece of the shattered coffin lid. It fell back into the sand with a soft thump. "There are carvings on the stone. I don't know what it says."

"Here." Tiff, Echo, and Sport picked up the other edges and they managed to flip it over. The carvings were almost intact, the lines razor sharp and precise. "This was the top of the coffin lid. The bottom is wrecked from the blast. I don't want to know what happened there."

"I have no idea what these characters even are," Sport said as he traced the carved letters. "But there's an image at the bottom. We've only got half of the thing here, so I can't be certain of anything, but it's a man's head, wearing a paladin helmet. His hands are raised and he's holding… I don't know what that is. It's not his sword. There are lines coming out of it. Rays of Light, maybe."

Echo took out a piece of paper and a pencil and began to copy the strange letters. "Maybe I can show this to someone at the College. I'll go to the one at Stormwind, the library there is better."

"Well, if there's nothing else weird here, I'll just put down that it's an old noble's grave from Doriven, I guess." Tiff pulled out her appraisal again. "This doesn't nullify the site, so I'll make a note that this side of the chasm is unstable and has no shards."

"I don't know if you should do this," Sport said slowly. "No one from the House told you this gravesite was in the region. Maybe we weren't supposed to find it."

Tiff looked at her notes. "We have to tell them it's here, or else we're putting the miners in danger. The wall isn't stable. What if they get too close and it collapses?"

Echo frowned and looked around the room. "Even if we don't tell them, there's nothing of value here but some gold artifacts and a void edge. The College can send a team out here to clean it up and preserve everything they can. You've got your mining site and we might get an answer as to how a dead man broke up his own coffin from the inside. But it's up to you, I suppose."

 **COMMUNITY DECISION: Inform Q_T and the House of Light of the broken tomb.**


	16. The Hypothesis

Tiff tucked her sword into her belt and braced herself before entering the House of Light. It was always a nerve-racking experience, but she couldn't shake the dread that settled over her as she made her way to Q_T's chambers and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Q_T grumbled. "And it had better be some damn good news, this early in the morning."

Tiff opened the door and nearly screamed. Queen Regent Serena was occupying the chair behind Q_T's desk, and watching her like a hawk. Q_T herself was sitting on one of her comfortable poufs by the fireplace, looking very disgruntled.

"Your Majesty," Tiff said quickly. She bowed, not knowing what else to do. "Forgive me, I didn't expect you to be here."

"No one ever does," Serena said cryptically. "Have a seat. I am only here because we have had difficulty in finding a shard source since the oversight at Crossfire. If the site at Neolithic proved fruitful, I must bring the report to Aria straightaway."

"Of course, Your Majesty." Tiff made her way to the cushioned seat and brought out the appraisal. "Lady Q_T, the site appears to be well above-average in quantity of shards, though the quality is doubtful in places. I, along with the assistants from Doriven, approve this site for development and mining."

"Praise the Light," Q_T murmured fervently. She looked at Serena and nodded. "We are saved."

"May I see it?" Serena held out her hand for the report and Q_T passed it over. "What is the addendum at the bottom?"

"There is an unstable section of the chasm, Your Majesty," Tiff explained. "It seems to be a crypt of an ancient paladin noble from Doriven, containing remains, a quantity of grave goods, and the deceased's weapon. There are no shard veins present, so I've requested the area be avoided during mining."

"A tomb in the Neolithic chasm?" Serena asked quietly. "With an incomplete skeleton and a grave lid that seemed to have been shattered from within?"

Tiff felt her heart drop down to her toes as she looked up at the Queen Regent. "I don't believe I mentioned either of those things, Your Majesty."

"Answer my question, warrior. Was it the tomb I described?"

"Yes," Tiff said, and drew her sword.

Serena moved faster than she had expected. The Regent's claws were almost at her throat before Tiff managed to parry the blow. The shock sent agonizing waves down her arm and she nearly dropped her weapon. A gold ring of consecration flared up around her, stinging her skin. Tiff staggered back, casting a seismic wave across the office and throwing Q_T and the Regent away from her. They were still too close. She had to get out. She had to run. The door seemed so far away now…

Cold iron bit into her back. Tiff felt warm liquid drenching the inside of her armor. She tried to summon the energy for another spell, but she couldn't move. As dark fog fell over her eyes, she heard Serena's voice, echoing as if from a great distance.

"Get rid of the body."

When Echo and Sport arrived at the College, it was nearly empty. Only a few mages were outside practicing spells on the lawn, and the library was deserted. The librarian was reshelving stacks of spellbooks and scientific texts when they came in.

"Hello?" Sport whispered.

The mage put down his books and turned around. "Yes? I'm Sindre. Can I help you two? Those red robes say you're not from around here."

"We're from Doriven, but we had a question about… something we found a while back." Sport tried to be as vague as possible about the details of their expedition. He knew Tiff was going to speak to Q_T about the tomb, but he decided to err on the side of caution. "There was some writing on an artifact we found out at the Neolithic chasm. Have you seen these characters before? Neither of us knew what we were looking at."

Echo unfolded his drawing and held it out. Sindre pushed his glasses up his nose and peered at it.

"Yes… I believe I've seen these before, or something similar to them anyway. It's old script from before the tribes were united under the Red King. Hundreds of years old. I don't believe anyone has translated it successfully, but we've made some extrapolations and assumptions from the context."

"What context?" Echo asked.

"It's on the tombs or grave goods of ancient paladin leaders, the forerunners of the House of Light. As you know, the House was founded by the Red King after his legendary defeat of the shamans. The records of that time have faded into myths, but we still have a few fragments left over from previous expeditions. Might I ask where you found this inscription, exactly?"

Sport decided to throw caution to the winds. "It was a broken coffin lid, from a crypt carved into the bottom of the ravine. The area was well-hidden, but the grave had already been ransacked when we saw it. The occupant was… in pieces. Only a few assorted bones were left. His weapon was an old void edge."

"Hmm." Sindre rubbed his chin and looked at his pile of books. "I believe I remember a survey team from Stormwind retrieving items from a site like that, but it was decades ago. I am probably mistaken. Nevertheless, I'll find the records for you. Any mage worth their hood kept decent records back then. Now it's all chicken scratch and spilled chemicals. Don't get me started."

"Thank you," Sport called. Sindre disappeared down an aisle.

Echo picked up the nearest book pile and started examining the titles. " _An Analysis of the Inherent Energy Contained in Matter_ _._ _A Theory of the Void and What Lies Beyond_ _._ _Long Term Effects of Exposure to Fluorescing Elements_ _._ _An Analysis of the Process of Creating Legendary Weapons_ _._ _How to Kill A Cryomancer_ _._ Oh, that one's blank. I guess someone doesn't like their team leader."

A group of blue-robed mages walked in, talking loudly. Sport heard Sindre shushing them from behind several shelves as he came back around with an armful of books.

"Here are all of the Neolithic surveys from the past hundred and fifty years. I've also brought this out, to compare. It's some kind of ritual gold medallion, missing the center stone, but the lettering on it looks like what you've got there. Here." Sindre set a little wooden display box on the table and dropped the records in front of Echo. "Bring out your drawing again, and let's have a look at these."

Echo unfolded his paper and Sindre put the golden pendant next to it.

"Oh my. They're alike but not the same. You see how the line angles on the medallion are softer than the drawing, and how there are more round letters than triangular? Are you sure this is accurate?"

"It's as close as I could get it," Echo said. "Maybe the tomb had an older and less sophisticated version."

"What is this here?"

Sport nearly jumped out of his skin. The woman's voice came from right behind him, and when he turned, her face was hidden by a blue hood. Sindre's eyes nearly bugged out of his head and he bowed very low.

"I know what you have found, and I cannot remain silent any more. Follow me. I will not speak of it to him."

Sport looked at her nervously, then glanced back at Sindre, who was practically quaking in fright.

"Who are you?"

"I asked you to follow me. There are too many people nearby. The library storage room will be more private."

Echo shrugged and folded up the paper. Sport touched the handle of his staff for reassurance, and they followed the hooded woman behind the high librarian's desk and through a heavy wooden door. The air inside was dark and dry and smelled of old leather and paper. High shelves blocked out the dim light from glass-covered lamps. She stopped below one of them and faced the two mages.

"You must promise me one thing before I tell you this. You must flee Stormwind and take shelter with Identity in the College of Arathi. I know you came here with a warrior girl from Doriven. She is dead. The Regent executed her this morning. The House will hunt you down as well when they hear that you know of the Tomb."

"What are you talking about?" Sport gasped. "Who are you?"

The woman threw back her hood. Light shone off golden-blonde hair, pale skin, and wide blue eyes. Sport's blood turned to ice in his veins as he realized who it was.

"Your Majesty…" Echo's voice was a weak whisper.

 _No. It isn't Serena._

The longer Sport looked at her, the less she resembled the Regent. Her face was less harsh than Serena's, and though she was still pretty, she had none of Serena's cruel, divine beauty. There was real fear in the woman's eyes. Sport had never seen the Regent afraid…

"I am the Fallen Princess," she said quietly. "But you may call me Lucy."


	17. Buried Secrets

"Good morning, Princess."

Kara blinked sleep out of her eyes and looked up at the maid. "It's still dark out, go away."

"The shaman is waiting with your sister in the garden. He believes early lessons will help you practice discipline."

 _Zinc_. Kara threw back her covers in a sudden burst of energy. "Tell him I'll be there as fast as I can." She pulled on her armor over her pajamas, figuring he wouldn't expect much more from her at such an ungodly hour. Finally she'd be able to talk to him about what she'd overheard. Kara turned the strange words over in her mind. The Unbroken. The Emerald Heart. What was going on? She bolted down the stairs, fully awake, and saw Zinc and Panda on the lawn next to the Palace rose garden.

Her sister shot her a vicious glare as she approached. Kara hoped that Zinc would be watching them closely enough to prevent her sister from trying to kill her a second time.

"I would like you to practice a duel this morning, using only what I have taught you. Do not use totems, and fight to the best of your abilities. Panda, you may attempt to cast a chain heal on me if you need it, but I would prefer that you use Earthliving weapon instead. Kara, I know you are still having difficulties with your lightning rod. Often the spell will work in a true fight, and not in a practice setting. I believe this will improve both of you."

"It's three in the morning," Panda mumbled. "I barely have the energy to walk."

"I myself have endured far worse than an early morning practice, Princess. You will survive. Now, stand apart from each other, and do your best."

Panda flicked her sword in Kara's direction. There was a wooshing sound, and Kara barely had time to dodge before a boulder sailed at her face. It grazed her side, knocking her to the ground, and exploded in the plants nearby, flattening them. An earthen spike struck her shoulderblade and tossed her into the air. Kara tried to aim a lightning bolt at her, but Panda cast another spike before she could fire. There was a loud ripping sound as a dozen nearby rosebushes uprooted along the spike's path. Kara let it explode under her feet, toppling her over, and when Panda rushed in for another one, she raised her training sword and concentrated as hard as she could.

Blue-white light erupted from the sky in an exhilarating flash. The shockwave picked up Panda and tossed her away as if she was a leaf in the wind. Kara hurled chain lighting at her and fired off a volley of lightning bolts, leaving scorch marks on the nearby trees. Panda was trying to regroup, and a burst of green light shone around her sword as she rushed Kara again.

"In the name of the Light, what are you doing out here?!"

Kara and Panda both froze in terror and looked up. Serena rushed down the stairs looking unusually disheveled, brandishing her claws in her right hand.

"Idiots! Why would you duel in my garden? Look at my roses!"

"It wasn't her fault," Zinc started to say.

Serena took two fast steps and backhanded Panda across the face.

Kara flinched, feeling the blow as if she too had been struck. Her aunt had hit her plenty of times, but never like this. Panda curled up, whimpering and clutching her cheek. Blood ran down her neck from where Serena's rings had torn her skin.

"Go to your room and do not come out until I say so. I will see to it that you will replant these personally." Serena hauled her up by the neck of her armor and dragged her up the stairs back to the Palace. "Kara, I expect you to return very soon as well. Zinc, if I see this happening again, I will throw you out of Stormwind with my own hands."

"My apologies, Your Majesty," Zinc murmured. "It won't happen again."

They watched the pair until the door slammed behind them. Zinc sighed and stowed his felflame blade away.

"I suppose next time I will have to choose a different place to practice. Send my apologies to your sister, Princess. I did not intend for her to be punished for my mistake."

"Wait," Kara said as he started to walk away. "I have a question… if you can't answer, that's fine. But I was just wondering."

He stopped and looked back at her. "I will do my best to answer, Princess. What is it?"

"Who are the Unbroken?"

Something flickered across Zinc's face. Kara couldn't tell what it was. Fear? Anger? Both? But it was gone too fast for her to see.

"You are not very quiet, Princess. I knew someone was outside when I was speaking to the messenger."

"Tell me. Or else I'll tell Aunt Serena that you brought another shaman into Stormwind."

"I would be shocked if your Aunt Serena would believe you. It would involve admitting that you left the Palace at night to talk to me. Nevertheless, I will tell you. Sit down, Princess, this will take a while."

Kara sat down with him under one of the drooping evergreen trees. The branches shielded them from the Palace windows.

"About fifty years ago, when your father held the throne of Stormwind, a faction started emerging from the different shaman tribes. I do not want to speak ill of the dead, but he was a harsh leader, and we considered him an enemy. There were many among us who spoke of taking the crown of Stormwind for ourselves, and using its power for our own means. We called ourselves the Unbroken, because we refused to accept the authority of Stormwind over us, and dedicated ourselves to restoring the shamans to their original power."

"Oh." Kara suddenly felt embarrassed that she had threatened him. "I'm sorry."

"Do not apologize, Princess, this was long before you were born. The only thing that stood in our way was the House of Light, led by your aunt Lucy at the time, and we knew she wielded a terrible weapon called the Emerald Heart. None of us know what it does, nor do we know where it is kept, but there are a thousand stories about its power from when the shamans were originally subjugated."

Kara shrugged. "I've never heard of it."

"Hardly anyone has. Of all the people in Stormwind, there are three who know that it even exists: myself, the Queen Regent, and the Fallen Princess. I have spent my time here trying to figure out its precise effect, but my search had been fruitless until just yesterday, when a report came in that a warrior girl had been crushed to death in a mine site collapse. They were discussing it in the taverns but her wounds were not consistent with the damage. It was obvious that she had been stabbed, and her neck broken afterwards."

"What does that have to do with the Heart?"

"The House of Light is well-known for killing those it considers dangerous. It is part of the Oath they take. It has nothing to fear except for the exposure of the Heart, now that the Daughter of the House is also the Queen Regent over all of Stormwind and its sister cities. It is a thin hope, that this unfortunate girl stumbled on something greater than herself, but it is something to begin with."

"What are you going to do?" Kara asked. "What _can_ you do?"

"I do believe my time here in Stormwind is coming to an end. I will rejoin the Unbroken at their camp, and we may go to the place at Neolithic where they claimed the girl died. I have no doubt that something is there, and that the House of Light does not want it found."

"Wait," Kara said. "Can I come with you to the Unbroken? I can help!"

"Don't be silly, Princess. Your aunt would nail my head to the gates of Stormwind if she figures out that you have left the city with me. That being said, you are the heir to the throne, and we can be valuable assets to each other. Keep my secret like you would keep one of your own. And know that though our struggle is far from over, it is us who will confirm you as queen."

He waved his hand and a miniature lightning storm flickered across his palm, then disappeared as quickly as it had come.

"The war is upon us, Princess. You and I both know it. I am glad to see that you have chosen the right side."

 **NO COMMUNITY DECISION**


	18. Strength in Numbers

Nighttime in Thornhill forest was always unnerving, but Elivagar had never been so glad to see it. It had been days of travel, always watching their backs for pursuit. He heard sighs of relief from the other shamans as they approached as well. The dark trees stuck up from the earth like hands. He could hear the rushing of the river nearby. A single human shape was backlit against a feeble watch fire at the forest path.

"Thank the gods," Angel whispered. "We're here. And we're safe."

"There's a sentry on guard, I'll speak to him," Elivagar said. "Stay here until he allows us in."

He took a few cautious steps towards the man, being careful not to make any threatening movements and keeping his weapon sheathed. The sentry's voice rang out suddenly and Elivagar stopped.

"Don't come any closer. Who are you?"

"Elivagar, leading thirty out of the tribe at Attherough. We ask for sanctuary with the Unbroken as supporters of your cause."

"Remove your mask."

He did as the voice asked, ready to draw his sword if he saw a flash of light. The shamans behind him whispered nervously among themselves.

The trees rustled as the thunderlord approached him. Elivagar stood perfectly still as he peered closely into the earthwarden's face.

"Yes, Elivagar. We know you well. You and your followers are welcome. It will take us a little while to set up habitation for you, but we are well supplied. Come this way. Were you followed out of Attherough? We will not hold it against you if you were, but we must be on alert for an attack."

Elivagar put his mask back on as they walked. "Not that I know of, although we did not leave peacefully. Several were executed after refusing to leave the valley. One of our number attacked Luc, but he did not die."

"Earthwardens are particularly tough, I am not surprised. This will not make relations between our tribes any healthier though." The thunderlord walked them through the forest and around the base of a huge waterfall with the ruins of a small wooden cabin. "There is room for your followers here. Come with me. The Council of the Unbroken will want to meet with you, or the few of us that are awake, anyway."

Elivagar followed his guide up a set of natural stairs, worn into the dirt by many feet over the years. The Thornhill Sanctum had sat in ruins since Elivagar could remember, but it still retained a little of its old grandeur. Firelight shone on two full Council seats- a female earthwarden, and a male thunderlord. The others were empty.

"Thank you, Fury," the woman said quietly. "Stay to hear him speak."

The thunderlord took the Council seat at her left.

"I am Silver," the earthwarden said. "I am the current leader of the Unbroken. This is Barcode, and you have already met Fury. I apologize that we could not all greet you, but the hour is very late. We know of you and your views already, Elivagar. Tell me what happened to you."

"The House of Light has cut off the shard trade to all tribes, citing a lack of supply. This is unacceptable. We have always known that the House's repeated attempts to weaken us were tempered by the Crown. Now that they are one and the same, there is nothing stopping the Regent from subjecting us to whatever she commands. I and my followers were banished by Luc after attempting to convince them that we could not live like this anymore. One of our number attacked him, and we fled before he could have us killed." Elivagar took out the rolls of paper with Zinc's notes on it and held it out to Silver. "I present this to the Council in hopes that you may make use of it."

"What is this?" Silver asked. Fury took the scroll from him and handed it to her.

"We recieved information from our source within Stormwind, and… something else. I cannot speak of it, not even to you, but know that it is a valuable asset to us, and it is hidden in Arathi with caretakers at the moment. It carries knowledge about the location of the Emerald Heart."

Silver frowned and leaned forward as she shook out the scroll and read over it.

"The Emerald Heart? Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Where?"

"The source says it may be worn on a chain around the Queen Regent's neck, but we still have no idea of its purpose."

"We don't even know if it can be destroyed!" Barcode scratched the blade of his pike across the ground. "We cannot risk this bold of a move without knowing more."

"I know. And I have a solution, but it is unstable at best. Will you hear it?"

Silver looked at the others and shrugged. "We might as well."

"The warriors of Stormwind are almost in blatant revolt. They have had no work for days, with the shard mines inactive, and the spy has recorded almost daily acts of vandalism and protest. The Regent is holding them back with pure intimidation, but if we can help them, their numbers will empower us significantly. If it comes down to a war, we need all the aid we can get from within. Stormwind is built to resist a siege from the outside."

"This does not explain what can be done about the Heart," Barcode insisted. "Nothing will stop the House from simply wiping us out again!"

"Hear me. The warriors may be able to gather information from within if there are too many for the House to track down. The College cannot be trusted, even if they too despise Serena's hold on Stormwind. Either we can wait for Luc to exterminate us, or we can try and recruit the warriors to our cause. We have little choice at this point."

"I agree," Fury said. "The time is coming for us to put our plans into action, and with what you have brought, we may finally have a chance."

"Get a message to your spy within the city. He needs to find a way to communicate with the dissenters and convince them that we fight for the same cause. It will not be easy. The relationship between shamans and warriors has always been bloody and unstable."

"I know. He will not fail you, Silver. He has never failed me."

 **NO COMMUNITY DECISION**


	19. A Friend in the Dark

The library at the College of Stormwind was a peaceful place. With its high vaulted ceiling, stained glass windows, and thick carpet, it was full of air and light and every sound was muffled among the hundreds of bookshelves. Theo had once thought she could stay there forever, reading everything she could get her hands on and enjoying the pleasant smell of paper and old leather. But after spending almost two days straight in the library with her team leader and two other full teams of mages, she was quickly finding out that her tolerance for "forever" was actually about 24 hours.

"Are they still bitching at each other?" Ninja whispered. "What are they even talking about at this point?"

Theo looked over at where the three team leaders were scribbling angrily on the library chalkboards and whispering thinly veiled insults. "I don't know. At this point, I don't want to know."

Kirby picked up a heavy book and immediately let it fall again with a frustrated sigh. "What have we really gotten done here anyway?"

"Shhhh!" Sindre hissed at them. "This is the library! If you want to talk, go outside."

"Sorry," Theo whispered. The cranky librarian went around a corner, muttering to himself.

"Guys, did we already look over _Theories of the Mechanics of Shard Mining_?" Sonic called. He held up a dense book with dog-eared pages.

"I fell asleep on it, if that counts," Theo said. She tucked her hair into her hood and tried to concentrate on the pages in front of her. "Look, all we have so far is that energy can be redirected using the appropriate medium. But we don't have anything that says how to f***ing do it."

"Well, energy can be in so many forms," Ninja pointed out. "It's in our spells, it's in heat, sound, movement, and matter itself. We know the energy can't be absorbed through normal means because of what Heatran's experiment proved. Creaam said he tried to bounce the output off an arcane shield and it failed. That makes sense; void shards are conductors that channel intent and energy into a spell. The shield was absorbed along with the energy surge, and the shard's natural characteristics amplified it into a blast. We can't do this by magical means."

"I know," Theo snapped. "I took Physics too, you know."

"I'm just saying-"

A small explosion rocked the entire library. All of the mages swiftly cast arcane shields and looked around. Their team leader, Tomol, was almost hidden by a cloud of noxious black smoke rising from the vial in front of him, and Theo could dimly hear Fahsil trying to cast a freezing breath over the reaction before it got worse.

"I told you to separate the acid from the solids overnight," Fahsil was saying condescendingly. "It's not something that can be done in two hours before, like everything else you do."

"Don't talk to me about separating things when you can't even separate your f***ing eyebrows," Tomol hissed. "I'm in this s*** because I listened to you and your bulls*** theory about energy containment. How many times do I have to tell you? It doesn't work, for f***'s sake."

"No spells in the library!" Sindre came charging around a corner, flapping the sleeves of his robes to clear the smoke. "By the gods, what are you doing? Take that devilry away from my books. These are fragile, you know!"

"Now you've f***ing done it," Sheer said irritably. "I'm taking my team back to the basement. You can stay here and deal with him. Guys! Let's move out of here and get back to the labs. We've been here all day; we're not going to find much here."

Sheer's team got up and left with him. Fahsil and Tomol continued to argue silently as Sindre started opening windows and cranking open the skylight.

"Smells awful," Kirby muttered. He put his robes up over his nose and opened another book. "They're still trying the energy redirect from an explosion. This can't be sustainable at all."

"I know." Theo threw down her pile of notes and started looking at a new pile of books. "Ha, look at these. I think this one is kids' poetry. Wanna hear?"

"No," said Ninja firmly.

"Okay." Theo opened the book and started to read. " _We danced, we danced until the dawn,/ And through the night, he sang a song_."

"Gods, are you five? That's terrible," Ninja growled.

" _It was not sweet, or good to hear,/ But he is mine; I will not fear_." Theo frowned and turned the book over. "What is this even about?"

"Kids and their imaginary friends," Kirby muttered dismissively. "Sheer was right. I don't know what they think we're going to find in here."

"Ninja. Look." Theo held out the book. "That's no normal friend. Look at that thing. That was the stuff of my nightmares when I was this age." The creature depicted was tall and dark, with crude claws at the ends of impossibly long arms. Two purple eyes were set daintily at the top of the misshapen head, and a silver chain was wound around its neck. A stick figure girl was clutching the end and grinning crookedly at the thing.

"Kids are weird," Ninja muttered. "Looks like the void monster from Heatran's lab."

" _A silver coin around his neck  
Will keep his wildness in check,  
And when we're done, he will depart;  
He fears the Light within my heart._"

Theo chewed the inside of her cheek when she finished reading. "This isn't appropriate for kids at all."

"Oh, even worse. A paladin child. Probably got eaten by that thing." Kirby snorted and started putting his books away. "Let's convince Tomol to get the hell out of here. All they've done is made a mess and pissed off Sindre."

"Fine," Theo muttered. "I don't know. I'm going to ask Sindre if I can take this. Maybe my baby sister will like it."

"Alright," Sonic said. He finished shelving their books and adjusted the sleeves of his robe. "We should at least say that we got something done in all the time in here. The energy harness has been tried, and hasn't really worked, but we could keep trying to refine it. The calculations say that it should work at some point. But we could still try to insulate the surge with a material; maybe something shock-proof. The other one that no one discussed was to make a cheap fuel for the smelter that's both safer and faster for fusing dust into shards. The warriors won't be hurt taking dust from old mines, but that's if it's even possible."

"Yeah, you're right," Kirby said slowly. "I guess we should pick something to focus on before we spend too much effort on this."

 **COMMUNITY DECISION: CONTINUE TRYING TO REFINE THE EXPLOSION AND ENERGY HARNESS**


	20. The Queen of Hearts (Part 1)

" _Only the Child of the Light shall wield Light incarnate, and that Child shall walk a divine among men, or a wolf among sheep_."

 _"But what does that mean?" Sport had asked. "And where's Tiff and Rainblaze?"_

 _"It means you and your friends stumbled on one of the House's most precious secrets. Do not try to find them. I know they are beyond hope. Now go, before the Queensguard come for all of us. Mention me to Identity when she asks why you came, but speak of this Tomb to no one."_

Echo felt too numb to even speak. The two mages cut through the tall grasses, bushes, and trees that lined the path from Stormwind to Arathi. Lucy had warned them to stay off the trail and be ready to hide or fight at a moment's notice.

" _The House will not care about subtlety, only that you are silenced. Do not let yourself get caught on the road. You will never be found. Do not try to contact your team leader or the head mage in Doriven. Arathi is the only place where I know you will be safe_."

Echo thought about the sad look in her eyes as she put her hood back up and left the library. He thought about the terror on Sindre's face when he saw her. No wonder he had been afraid. Speaking to the Fallen Princess was a death sentence. How had Fontn managed to keep her away from the House for so long?

Hoofbeats pounded the path behind them. Echo and Sport flinched, drawing their swords, but the rider just moved by. It was a mage from Stormwind, in blue robes. He took no notice of the other two hidden in the trees.

"We're getting there," Sport said wearily. "I can see the gates."

Echo only nodded. He still didn't trust himself to talk. The red towers of Arathi peeped over the treetops in the distance, and he could hear the rumble of horses' hooves and the talking of the people at the gate. He thought about Tiff and Rainblaze. If he hadn't shown them the tomb, maybe they would be alive…

He let Sport tug him along towards the gates, thinking about Rainblaze's last words. He hoped the pyromancer hadn't suffered. The mages put their hoods up as they approached, but it was hardly necessary. All they got was a cursory glance from the guards as they passed through, into the steep winding streets of Arathi.

The College was unnervingly close to the city's branch of the House of Light. Echo instinctively shied away from the paladin acolytes standing in the arched doorway, but none of them took any notice of him. It made no sense to be afraid of them; they couldn't possibly know that he and Sport were fleeing Stormwind to get away from the head of their order. Nevertheless, he breathed a sigh of relief when they hitched their horses at the College stables and finally went inside.

"Let me guess, more refugees from Doriven?" The Pyromancer at the front desk glared at them as they walked in. "Gods, we're not going to have enough room for everyone. First the shamans are showing up, and now you lot."

"Yes," Sport said before Echo could correct him. "We, uh, got separated from our survey team and were looking for a place to stay for a while."

"Incompetent refugees. Just my luck. Well, come this way, since Identity will probably skin me if she hears I turned more newcomers away." He picked up his staff and waved them down a hallway. "Wait in the library. I'll look up a team leader who can take another pyro and another aqua. It might take a while, but you'll have a place to stay tonight when we're done."

"Thank you," Sport called. The pyromancer didn't respond as he walked away from his desk and went up the flight of stairs.

"Come on. We're alive, and that's what matters. I just don't know what to do now."

"Yeah," Echo said. He rubbed his eyes and tried to set his thoughts straight. "The library is over here. Let's just rest for a bit."

They sat down at one of the long tables and numbly watched the librarian restacking books. Echo thought about Sindre and Lucy again. Surely they were safe. He refused to imagine that either of them were dead as well.

A blonde girl got up and returned a book to a shelf. Echo frowned and looked at her more closely. She was wearing a faded blue hood, with light leather armor that looked handmade. A fur robe sat on her chair. Why would a mage be dressed in shaman armor? The tribes never accepted outsiders.

"Hey… I'm Echo. What's your name?"

The girl's eyes darted back and forth before settling on Echo. "I'm- I'm no one. I should go."

She grabbed her coat and the ruby thorn leaning against the table before fleeing the room.

"What was that about?" Sport asked. "Yeah, I saw what she was wearing too."

Echo hurried to the window and watched her leave. She had pulled her hood up so that it almost covered her entire face, and two masked shamans were walking with her down the street. "There are shamans with her. A man and a woman. I think they're earthwardens."

"Weird." Sport buried his head in his arms and stared blankly across the room. "Whatever. They're probably running from something too."

"Everyone is," Echo murmured.


	21. The Queen of Hearts (Part 2)

It was a small accident, hardly anything compared to the progressively bigger explosions that had been echoing through the College corridors, but it had still done enough damage for Lucy to look for one of the aquamancers on duty. She had hoped that the news of her experiment wouldn't reach Fontn. He took an irritating joy in babysitting her every move.

It had been so close to working, too. After sending Sport and Echo away, she had tried a dozen different things to keep them off her mind. The Emerald Heart… It had been years since she had held it, much less thought about it. How strange, that after all this time in hiding, she was still able to remember the old words for two random mages who had stumbled on the place entirely by chance. Lucy would have called it fate, if she still believed in it.

She sighed and picked up the shattered remains of the metal orb she had made. The energy from the reaction had certainly passed into the metal, but instead of being deflected into the little heap of magic dust, the sphere had shattered. Pieces were embedded in the walls, smoking gently from the acid eating it away. Perhaps if she made it out of something more flexible…

The bloodstains on her desk were almost completely cleaned up when there was a loud, insistent pounding on her door.

"Don't come in, I'm busy." Lucy tried to arrange her papers over the broken vials and spilled chemicals, but a second later, the metal lock glowed bright orange and began to drip onto the tiles.

"Fontn, I swear to the Light, if you-"

The door crashed open. Molten iron splattered the floor. Fontn lowered his walking stick and glared at her. "I shouldn't have had to do that."

"Usually a lock means that I don't want people to come in," Lucy tried to explain, but he talked right over her.

"Rainbow told me what happened. What the hell are you doing in here?"

"Nothing. I dropped a beaker. Hurt myself picking it up. It's fine." She hid the towel she had been using behind her back. "Really. I just… couldn't stop the bleeding so I went to someone else."

"Bulls***." Fontn picked up the papers and waved them at her. "You ran at least five pieces of metal completely through both of your hands. There were chemical burns on your face. I know damn well that you're lying but I'm not going to ask you again. This is much too dangerous for someone like you to risk."

"I didn't ask to be treated like a child," Lucy muttered. "I asked for sanctuary."

"You are in my domain, you obey my rules. That being said, I know you're bored, and life here does not suit you. I also cannot keep the Regent away from you indefinitely."

"If you want me to leave, just say so." Lucy pulled the papers out of his hands and put them back in the desk drawer where they belonged. She didn't care if he saw the mess on her workstation. "I'm sure you'll appreciate the view of my head being mounted on a spear at the doors of the House."

"I did not say I was leaving you to die!" Fontn said sharply. "Listen. I have done my best to protect you for years. You know this. Do you trust me?"

Lucy finished wiping up the chemicals and blood, then threw the dirty towel into a bin near the door and grabbed a fresh beaker from the shelf. "Sometimes."

"I have made an arrangement with the warrior who leads the Queensguard. As you know, your sister sends him almost weekly now to demand that I give you up. I pay him, as per our deal, and he leaves. But it is only a matter of time before Serena comes here herself to find you, and by law, I cannot defy the Crown."

Lucy nearly dropped the beaker. "What?"

"I've paid him to take you to Arathi, if you want. You can live out your days peacefully there. He'll submit a report to the Regent that he tracked you leaving Stormwind on the path to Doriven. They'll never hear from either of you again. You'll just disappear. The House will claim you killed him and then died in the wilderness."

"Idiot! He's Queensguard!" Lucy's hands were shaking badly. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Of course I will disappear, after he kills me and brings my head on a plate to Serena!"

"You are being unreasonable. The warriors' relationship with the Crown has been increasingly unstable, with the questionable new mining site and their lack of employment since the last one closed. He may be Queensguard, but I do not doubt his loyalty to his kin… and to my money."

Lucy shook her head as she yanked the embedded shards of her orb out of the walls. "This is insane. You've handed me a death sentence!"

"I've handed you a second chance. Take it or leave it. Come to me with your decision when you've finished trying to figure out why I would protect you for this long and suddenly decide to murder you." Fontn turned and left before Lucy could think of a response. Her ruined door drifted shut.

 **COMMUNITY DECISION: Flee Stormwind with the renegade Queensguard.**


	22. Into That Good Night

"I'm freezing," Ninja complained. They were waiting in the examination room, watching the team leaders and Fontn trying different solutions. "Is anyone else cold?"

"I am," Theo muttered. She was trying to keep herself from dozing off on the poetry book she had taken from the library. "This is what happens when you put six pissed-off cryomancers in a small space."

"I don't think this is a good idea," Tomol was insisting. Sheer was taking jars of colored liquids and powders out of a small chest on the front desk. "You never even did a live test before now."

"You weren't a good idea," Sheer retorted. "But you're still here anyway."

"By the gods, both of you just shut up already!" Fontn snapped. "Get me extra aquamancers. Trained ones. Not the ones from your teams. Sheer, I hate to agree with Tomol, but he's got a point. Anything could happen."

"I've measured everything out. There's no way this can fail," Sheer said firmly. "But fine, get the aquamancers anyway."

"There is no greater sign of danger than a confident idiot," Fontn growled. "Evacuate the surrounding rooms. Hopefully I can trust you not to f*** that up, at least."

"You always do this!" Sheer complained. "My results are just as valid as everyone else-"

"When I want something destroyed beyond all hope of retrieval, make no mistake, you are the first person I will ask," Fontn said shortly. "That isn't the case today, unfortunately, so let's take the normal precautions that usually accompany your demonstrations."

Sheer looked like he was about to protest, but he stomped out the door down the hall to the other rooms.

"Well that's a few things we won't have to worry about," Fontn huffed. "Once Creaam puts out the fire he managed to make on that workstation, we'll be good to go. Honestly, how did you do that?"

"I'm starting to think he got promoted to head mage just because of his passive-aggression," Theo whispered to Ninja.

"I still did better than you," Creaam snapped at Fahsil. He threw a wet towel over the leaping flames and froze the whole mess solid in a burst of freezing breath. "You get points for results, not for sitting there running your mouth."

"I'm not the one talking right now," Fahsil sneered. "That's all you ever do. Talk, talk, talk, and then you wonder why everything you touch turns to s***."

"F*** off and leave me alone. You're not the one with the idiot team. I've got an aquamancer who's about as dependable as a broken water fountain, a cryo who struggles to make a tray of ice cubes, and two pyros who can't toast a slice of bread with their combined fireballs. Don't be such an asshole because you got lucky."

"Was that some kind of weird compliment to Fahsil's team?" Kirby wondered. "Wow."

"As if." Theo turned the pages of her poetry book. "None of you ever read this, did you?"

"Never heard of it," Sonic said. "My parents told me normal stories. Like the one about the boy and the cave."

"Yeah, we all heard that one. What's this even about, though? It wasn't written to be known or shared, and there's no way a child actually wrote these poems."

Sheer crashed back into the exam room, looking disgruntled and a little singed. "All clear, and I found your aquamancers." Plikie, Ender, and Poe walked in behind him and waved to Fontn.

"Thank the gods. I'm not in the mood for cleaning up your usual fatalities today, Sheer." Fontn held up the lab notes. "I've triple-checked your calculations, and it looks like the reaction will give off twice as much energy as it looks like this setup can handle. Are you sure this is accurate?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" Sheer yelled. "Just let me get this put together. The dome should compress and then redirect the energy back into the magic dust under the chemicals as they burn off. It'll be fine. You got the extra aquamancers and everything."

"Has he actually had fatalities?" Sonic asked Tomol.

"Only three, but that's three more than any of us," Tomol whispered back. "Fontn won't let it go."

"Classy," Theo snorted. She closed her book and started backing away from Sheer's setup. "I'm going to take cover."

"Good plan. Cast shields when they light it up and pray that this building doesn't start falling down." Tomol walked over to the desk and said a few quiet words to the other team leaders. All of them scattered immediately.

"Plikie, I want you to light this up. Here's some matches." Fontn took several steps back and looked around. "Everyone, mind your heads. If debris starts falling from the ceiling-"

"Shut up, it'll be fine," Sheer insisted. "We're ready."

Plikie fumbled with the matches and managed to strike up a tiny flame and touch it to the long fuse poking out from under the jointed metal dome. She cast her shield and ducked as the flame raced up the rope and disappeared under the cover. There was a loud hiss as it ignited.

Nothing happened.

Theo peeked out from behind the workstation. Plikie's shield fizzled out and she looked around the room in confusion.

"Didn't you say this was calculated earlier?" Fontn asked pointedly.

"It was!" Sheer protested. "I don't understand what happened!"

"Alright, let's all go back to the drawing board. Ender and Poe, I want you to give that crap some water bolts. I don't want to risk a delayed reaction. Plikie, don't worry about it, this wasn't your fault. Great to see you two again, by the way. I thought you were in Doriven with Pykxe."

Ender cautiously picked up the dome cover and began soaking the colored vials of liquid and powder with water. The smoldering fuse hissed as it went out. Poe started disassembling the cover and handing the pieces back to Sheer.

"I really don't get what went wrong there," Sheer grumbled. "Now I look completely incompetent-"

One second Theo had been rejoining her team at the station, and the next, she was on the floor ten feet away. Blood filled her mouth where her jaw had hit something; a wooden cabinet maybe. There was a high, painful ringing in her ears as she tried to figure out what had happened. Someone was screaming nearby. There were footsteps close to her, but her vision was too blurry and full of stars to see what was going on.

"What the f*** was that?!" the loudest voice bellowed from across the room.

Fontn. He was alive, and angry by the sound of it. Theo blinked and tried to stand up, but her head pounded terribly and she lay back down. There was something wet running down her neck and soaking into her collar. The screaming went on in the background, a cry of pure agony that sent adrenaline shooting through her veins.

Water bolts poured over her in a burst of soothing coolness. Sonic was standing over her, looking bruised and bloodied himself, but his hands were steady as he tilted her head and tried to mend her bleeding ear. "Hold still. You're going to be really dizzy for a while. Take it slow."

"What happened?" Theo mumbled. Her tongue was covered in blood. She could feel a broken tooth somewhere.

"It exploded when it came in contact with the water. He'd never done a live test. Apparently water catalyzes that reaction, not fire." Tomol scowled and started pulling bloodstained shards of glass out of his arm. "It hit just as our shields went down. If Sheer had been trying to kill us, that would have been his best chance."

The stars receded from Theo's vision and she let Sonic take a peek in her mouth. "Yep, you've got some broken teeth. Good thing you didn't swallow or choke on any fragments. I think I can reattach them."

Theo looked past him and almost inhaled a water bolt in horror. Plikie was still screaming and thrashing on the ground, trying to fight off Ender pulling her hands away from her face. The jellied remains of her eyes ran from between her fingers and dripped down her arms.

"He can't save that," Sonic murmured. "Body parts that have been destroyed that thoroughly… she'll need a donor."

"Idiot! What have you done!" Fontn shouted. He smacked away Heatran's hand and staggered to his feet, leaning on his staff. "You nearly killed everyone in this room. You've maimed an aquamancer, for gods' sake. I want everyone out of this room while I figure out whether or not to kill Sheer myself."

Creaam opened his mouth to say something. Sheer raised his frostbite and shot a bolt straight into his face. The cryomancer doubled over, clutching his mouth and spitting blood mixed with ice shards onto the tile floor.

"Don't say it. Don't f***ing say it," Sheer hissed. He stormed out of the room and down the hallway to the outside. His team huddled around the station, looking uncertain whether or not to follow him.

"Uh, Fontn…" A relatively clean and unharmed Zech was standing over the ruined work surface. "I think it worked."

"Don't be stupid, it… What?"

Theo looked up. All the team leaders hurried over to the front as Fontn reached into the burnt crater and held something up.

It was a void shard.


	23. Blood Is Thicker Than Water

Panda was unusually absent from their shared classes with Fioren when Kara opened the door and went into the classroom. Kakapos hadn't said anything about her when he'd walked her there, and she was secretly grateful that she was alone. No silent gloating, no bratty little sidelong glances. Kara resolved herself to stay awake through the whole lesson this time. The downside of being alone was that there was no one else around to take Fioren's attention off of her.

"Is your sister ill today?" Fioren asked.

"I don't know. I barely talk to her," Kara muttered. "Look, I've brought my history reader and everything. I'm going to do my best."

"It's about time you started trying," the cryomancer remarked. "Open your reader, we're skipping ahead to chapter nineteen. We're almost finished with the history of Stormwind, and after that we'll move on to the Arathi chapters. Have you completed the reading from last lesson?"

"Yes," Kara lied. "It was… the origins of the Honor-Bound. Right?"

Fioren looked shocked. "Oh, you actually did. Yes, the four Honor-Bound, colloquially called the Kingsguard or Queensguard, depending on whoever currently wears the Crown of Stormwind. Can you tell me more?"

"Um…" Kara thought hard, trying to remember the few pages of chapter summary that she had read. "They're always warriors. The specialization doesn't matter as long as they complete all seven End of Days tasks. And they only obey the Bloodline of the King."

"On what condition can they break their vows?"

"If they are betrayed by the Crown first."

"Very good. I'm surprised, Princess. You really are making an effort." Fioren picked up her own book and turned to chapter nineteen. "Let's continue on. This was your grandmother; I don't think you ever knew her. Queen Rhune. She was the first to employ the Honor-Bound openly as bodyguards instead of assassins, though it was more as a gesture of payment for services rendered, than out of actual respect for them."

Kara tried to think of the types of questions that Panda usually asked. "Um, what kinds of services?"

Fioren laughed bleakly. "It's a rather relevant situation to where we are today. Rhune didn't have the birthright to the Crown, but her older brother died in a very suspicious accident at the College, and the Regent at the time refused to pass the Crown to her because he suspected Rhune's involvement in her death. She forced the Queensguard to execute the Regent, citing the fact that his broken vow to surrender the Crown to a rightful heir constituted a betrayal of all of them."

"Did Rhune actually kill her brother?" Kara asked.

"I do not believe anyone ever found out the truth. She, and the rest of the Bloodline, refused to discuss it and she died without telling anyone else. However I would not be surprised at all if she did."

"Oh." Kara stared at the picture of Queen Rhune in her book, trying to find any hint of her father or Aunt Serena in the round kindly face. "I don't look like her at all."

"You and Panda remind me very much of your mother, but that is a discussion for another time." Fioren turned a few pages in her book and Kara followed along. "Back on topic. Rhune's public acceptance of the Honor-Bound was a radical move for the time, and most of Stormwind thought it would be a step forward in mending the relationship between the House of Light and the warrior population. Unfortunately it wasn't enough, and she also severely worsened the relationship between Stormwind and the shaman tribes with her acceptance of the warriors to the Crown. Eventually, disagreement turned to violence and she met an untimely end at their hands."

Kara's head had been drooping onto her chest, but at the mention of the shamans, she looked up. "They killed a ruler of Stormwind?"

"Yes. It was a great tragedy that still overshadows the Crown today. She and her Queensguard were ambushed by an extremist shaman faction when they went to pay their respects at the Temple ruins. The four were killed in the battle, and Rhune was executed in the temple. The House of Light had to retrieve her body later for burial."

The room suddenly felt much colder. Why hadn't Zinc mentioned this to her? Kara's mind spun wildly.

"Thankfully, reason prevailed among the more conservative faction. Your father was old enough to be confirmed King by them at the time, and he dedicated his rule to securing the cities' safety and supporting the conservatives' rise to power, as well as their efforts in suppressing the rebels among them. The shamans were expelled from Stormwind and Doriven, and only permitted whatever territory the Crown granted them. Arathi, retaining some of its independence from the Crown, continued to allow shamans within its limits, but they also took a much harsher stance towards the extremists." Fioren turned to the next section, not seeming to notice the look on Kara's face.

"I'm afraid I must cut our time short today. There was a severe accident in the laboratory examination room a few days ago and I must help categorize the damage. I will need you to fill out the next pages in your reader on your own, and present them to me at your lesson tomorrow. Kakapos, if you wouldn't mind escorting the Princess back to the Palace?" Fioren put down her book and held the door for him to come in. "And please inform your sister that there is no benefit in skipping classes. I expect full attendance from both of you, even if your full efforts are not present."

Kara closed her reader as she and Kakapos began the walk back in silence. Her mind was too filled with questions to speak. Zinc was part of the Unbroken. He had to have known what happened. Fioren said the rebels had been suppressed during her father's rule. That was when Zinc had said the Unbroken began. She knew there was too much he wasn't telling her… Had she chosen badly?

"Go to your room, Princess. I need to speak with your sister about your lessons. She has been in a dark mood lately. I am afraid Her Majesty has been a little too harsh with her." Kakapos pointed her down the hall and quickly went up the other flight of stairs, disappearing towards Panda's room.

"Good," Kara wanted to say, but she kept quiet and went into her room. She didn't know how to feel about Panda. It gave her a mean little joy to watch her suffer, but she pitied Panda all the same. They were sisters. Kara didn't know much about what that was supposed to mean, but she knew that family should love each other.

 _And she doesn't love me. She tried to kill me. All she wants is my crown._

Aunt Serena didn't love either of them; Kara was sure of that. Her father had loved her, but he was dead. She couldn't remember her mother, and Aunt Lucy wasn't even part of their family anymore. Kara tried to push her feelings back down, but she had never felt so alone. Tears stung the corners of her eyes.

There was a quiet knock on her door. Kara quickly blotted her eyes with her sleeve and prayed it wasn't her aunt. "Who is it?"

"It's Zinc. I am about to leave, and wanted to say goodbye to you and your sister."

"What?" Kara rushed to her door and pulled it open. Zinc stood in the hall, holding a large pack and his felflame blade. "Where are you going? I thought Stormwind was your home."

"It was my home, Princess. But I am sure you have heard about the warrior riots. Your aunt is a very polarizing figure in this city, for better or worse. The shamans have always had a troubled relationship with them, and I cannot convince them that I am not an enemy. It isn't safe for me here anymore, and it is long past time for me to rejoin my people." He pulled something out of his bag and handed it to Kara. "Here. Ordinarily I would only give you this if you were fully-trained, but we may never see each other again. I hope it serves you as well as mine has for me."

Kara turned the object over in her hands. It was a miniature capacitor totem, made to fit a child's hand, and much heavier than it looked.

"There was so much that I could not tell you in the time that we had, Princess. Can you promise me something, before I go?"

Kara pretended to wipe her nose in order to hide her tears. "Yes."

"Promise me that you will try to make amends with your sister. Try to heal the bad blood between the two of you before it becomes something much darker."

"How?" Kara mumbled. "She'd never want to talk to me."

"I think you would be surprised." Zinc reached out and tucked a strand of Kara's hair behind her ear. "It amazes me that two people who share blood could know so little about each other. But that is none of my business."

"I wanted to come with you to the Unbroken," Kara sniffled. "I want to help."

Zinc looked furtively down either end of the hall. The Palace guards were close, but out of earshot.

"Princess, when you meet the Unbroken, it will be at the gates of Stormwind. Until then, stay safe. I wish you only the best."

 **COMMUNITY DECISION: Attempt to make amends with Panda.**


	24. This Shattered Nature

It was dusk when the spies returned to the main camp. Luc sat with Syncro and Iris in the Council meeting-house, looking at their crude maps of the Thornhill Sanctum.

"The Council of the Unbroken sits at the top of the Sanctum. Their tents are set around the base of the hill. Non-council members live around the abandoned quarry and the surrounding forest areas. There are many natural obstacles, and I have no doubt they have fortified the brush with sharp stakes and other deadly traps. It will not be easy." Syncro traced his finger across charcoal marks that showed three possible paths.

 _They had waited at the top of the Gorge, watching the six riders making their way across the dry, cracked earth. Their armor glittered in the stark sunlight. The lead warrior carried the blue banner of Stormwind, marked with the red stripes that symbolized Doriven and Arathi. The Queen and the Prince Consort rode together, flanked by two other warriors, and a fourth brought up the rear._

"One leads straight to the Sanctum. Not desirable. It will be heavily guarded and too populated. The second is a side path that leads to the jungle and the spires. These areas do not seem to have anyone living there, but it is a very long distance to travel if we are only trying to avoid the Sanctum. The third is the most efficient, taking us to the base of the waterfall and the old fisherhouse. There is a very crude camp there, clearly not set for permanent residence. I believe that is where they are." Syncro folded up the map and put it away.

"What should we do?" Iris asked. "It is a small camp, but they are still spread out too much for a small attack to be effective."

 _Lightning bolts arced down onto the riders. The horses screamed in terror and stomped wildly as the Queensguard looked around, drawing their swords. A powerful war cry echoed across the wasteland._

 _We're under attack. Get to the Temple! We can hold them off there…_

"Our first priority should be to find the ones who fled," Luc said grimly. "And kill only the ones who fight back. The Unbroken themselves will cast out the survivors for endangering them. Above all, bring me Elivagar, dead or alive. I will have his head placed on a stake outside of our camp, and his body broken and scattered to the vultures."

 _Lava hissed and bubbled under the blackened Temple floors. The six fled across the wide stone bridge that crackled and groaned under the horses' pounding hooves. The shamans followed them across, careful not to make a single misstep. It was easy to slip off the path into the burning sea below._

"Do not harm the others." Luc stared into the fire in front of him. "They have left us alone thus far, and I will not incite open war myself. But let the ones who fled know that I will not have my authority challenged. They were not alive to understand the cause of the retribution we suffered under the last true King."

 _The Queensguard dismounted and drew their swords. Queen Rhune stood with them, and Light shone around her like a halo._

 _Fall in. They will not defeat us today._

"Make sure that you are as subtle as you can possibly be. I only want Elivagar killed. If he convinces the Unbroken to march on us, a war will be guaranteed. We cannot lose what little trust the House still has in us. He must be silenced."

Syncro frowned and rubbed a speck of dirt off the points of his drakefang. "I do not see why we should wait to wipe out their entire force. Their existence puts all of us in danger."

"No. The Crown puts us in danger. But I had no choice in offering Serena the Regency, and she cannot know that I have lost control of the tribes." Luc's bones ached with a deep chill that even the fire's warmth could not drive out of him. "It has been a long time. I have seen more than I should, and done more than I should have survived. Some of the Unbroken were once old friends of mine."

 _It was a short, ugly battle. They fought well, but they were badly outnumbered. There was blood everywhere. It was puddled on the ground near Lift's severed arm, still gripping his halberd. It streamed from Larz's mouth as he coughed for air, trying to pull himself free from the earthen spike that had impaled his stomach. Spor's head and torso lay two feet apart from each other in another spreading pool of blood._

 _No, Lethal! Rhune screamed and stretched out her hand. The last Queensguard warrior's cry was choked off by a sudden gruesome hiss as she tumbled into the glowing lava depths below. A shaman kicked her drakefang out of her grip._

"And if we are caught by their guards?" Iris asked. "I am afraid they will be expecting us."

 _Remove your mask, coward! Let me see the face of a traitor before I go to my ancestors, and give me your name._

 _The queen's eyes blazed with fury and pride. Even helpless, without a weapon or her guards, she showed no fear._

Luc shook his head. "It has been days since they fled. Their guard will not be as high. But if you are caught… be honest. Torture and lies is not the way of the Unbroken."

 _The razor-sharp edge of the shaman's Gemini pressed into the queen's throat. Blood welled up from the cut in crimson beads._

 _Very well, Your Majesty. When the dead ask, tell them-_

"Tell them-"

 _"Luc sent you."_

 **NO COMMUNITY DECISION**


	25. Half of My Soul

It had been three days since Lucy had left Stormwind and slipped into Arathi unseen, and she thought she was going to go insane from boredom if she spent one more day alone in the small house that Fontn had provided. Jaka wouldn't let her leave; it was too dangerous with how many House acolytes were roaming around the city. He wouldn't let her stand near the windows to keep her away from prying eyes, and he wouldn't even let her stand on the balcony upstairs. It was almost worse than being in the College. At least Fontn had let her out of her room long enough for her to know what was happening in Stormwind, especially with her sister. She fiddled with her necklace for the thousandth time and wondered if she would ever be free of someone watching her.

"What is that locket? You haven't left it alone since we left Stormwind." Jaka walked in with an armful of his spare weapons and sat down to clean them.

Lucy looked down. She hadn't even noticed that she was twisting the gold chain of her locket around her fingers so tightly that the skin had gone white.

"Just a keepsake from a while ago. I can't stop thinking about her."

"What's inside?"

 _It was my Heart._ "It's a picture of us, when we were young. None of your business."

"My apologies." Jaka looked away quickly, as if he were embarrassed. "You seem to be very possessive of it."

 _It was my Duty_. "It's all I have left of her."

"What happened, if you don't mind me asking?"

 _Liar! Whore! In the name of the Light, I cast you out! You will be hunted like a beast for the rest of your days… Serena's beautiful face looking into Lucy's plain one, twisted with hate and pale with rage. When we meet again, you will die._

"We had a disagreement. I thought it was nothing important. She did. The others turned against me… and that was that. It's not something I want to relive."

"I understand." Jaka laughed and tossed the clean sword carelessly into the pile of his other possessions. "And here I thought you were starting to trust me."

"Don't be stupid," Lucy muttered. "I think I've forgotten how to trust."

"Have you forgotten how to love, as well?"

 _Love?_ "No." She turned her back to him, acutely aware of his gaze. "But I am not some bird in a cage that needs to be kept away from the outside world for its safety."

"I swore a vow. Not only to Fontn, but to others as well. I have to keep you alive." Jaka scrubbed at a speck of rust on another blade. "He is very difficult to say no to."

"Then I should have told Fontn that I don't need another babysitter," Lucy snapped. "I am sick and tired of being treated like an infant."

"Would you rather be treated like a corpse? That is what you would have been if not for him."

"Believe me, I tried!" Lucy threw down her own weapon and yanked back the sleeves of her robes. She held out her arm for him to see. "No one would risk the wrath of the House to shelter me. I had nothing left. I was nothing. Look."

The scars were still there, running up her forearms like silver wires even after all the years. Lucy felt an angry little burst of vindictive satisfaction when she saw Jaka pull away and look up at her in horror.

"What-"

"I thought it was my only choice. I refused to be brought to her for execution like some common criminal. I planned it, you know. It was my last little victory, to die on my own terms instead of hers. Even at the end, she'd have no hold on me."

"How did you-"

"The Light healed me. Every time. The cuts closed whenever I opened another one. I was furious. I couldn't even die of my own free will. But it made me think that somehow, fate had another purpose for me. That there was a reason I had to remain alive. That was what sent me to the College for sanctuary."

Lucy pushed her sleeves back up and rubbed her stinging eyes. The despair and hope of that day were almost too much to relive. "It abandoned me a long time ago. I couldn't even heal myself after the lab accident. Did Fontn tell you what happened? I tried to help with the mages' most recent project and ended up almost losing my hands. Fate isn't enough to save me anymore."

"But you trusted him enough for this," Jaka said quietly. "You did not let yourself be taken back to the House."

"I only left the College for Fontn's sake. I knew he couldn't resist Serena's questioning any more. You were Queensguard before you left; I know that the first order she ever gave you was to kill me if you could."

"It was."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Lucy almost shouted at him. She grabbed his sword hand before he could react and brought it to her throat. "I have no reason to live. Not anymore."

The two stared at each other for a long moment. Tension hung in the air, then shattered like glass as quickly as it had come. Jaka's startled expression softened and he lowered his sword and pulled his hand from her grip. Lucy let him go and collapsed on their bed, burying her face in her hands. She wondered, in a detached sort of way, what would have happened if he had done what she asked.

She felt his hands pulling hers away from her face, and looked up at him. There was pain in his eyes, but also something else.  
 _  
Fear?_

"Princess… I have loved you from the moment I saw you. If you asked me for death, I would grant it to you to put you out of your pain. But I am Queensguard. I cannot break my oaths. Not even for you."

Lucy looked up at him in confusion. "Serena ordered me killed…"

"Her Majesty countermanded the order before we left. The warriors are almost in open revolt, and she could not spare more of the House forces to capture you. You were to be left alive, and brought to her for questioning in your involvement with the disappearance of two Doriven mages who were possibly possessing sensitive information. Only if you are found guilty of sharing these secrets will you be executed. Otherwise you will be released back to Arathi, to spend the rest of your life in exile."

 _What…?_

She tried to turn and block the strike, but she was too slow. Pain exploded in the back of her head. Darkness fell like a curtain over her vision as she collapsed.

"I'm sorry, Princess. But if you have any desire left in you to live… do it for me."

When she opened her eyes, her sister was standing over her. Serena's cruel, lovely eyes bored into hers and Lucy tried to turn away, but she couldn't move. She was bound to a wooden chair in a strange dark room, lit by a single torch.

"Well, well," Serena whispered. "What do we have here?"

COMMUNITY DECISION: Lucy will try to divert Serena's attention by talking about 5 things. Voting still underway.


	26. What We Share

Moonlight shone through Kara's window as she sat at her desk, turning Zinc's last gift over in her hands. The silver caps on the totem glittered brightly. She wondered if he would return soon.

She knew she should go to sleep. It was a little past midnight, but she wasn't tired at all.

 _"Promise me that you will try to make amends with your sister. Try to heal the bad blood between the two of you before it becomes something much darker."_

Every fiber of her being rebelled against the thought of talking to Panda again. Her sister wanted nothing to do with her. She hadn't gone to class with Kara for days, and Kakapos had told her that she was taking them separately. Even though Kara was confident that she had done nothing wrong, she still felt as if something was weighing her down. There had been something fragile and beautiful between them, and somehow Kara had crushed it with her own clumsy hands.

Kara put the totem down and pushed her feet into her slippers, then picked up her training sword and opened her bedroom door. "Pollau? Are you there?"

"Princess! Why are you awake?" The Queensguard glared down at her as she peeked out. "It is so late. Go back to bed."

"No. I have to talk to my sister."

"Your sister is asleep, as you should be. Go back to your room-"

"No, you're coming with me to talk to her, right now. I need backup." Kara marched down the hallway, knowing he'd have to follow her.

"Princess, this can wait until tomorrow morning! Her Majesty will have me skinned for letting you wander around," Pollau snapped.

"Well she won't know if you stop making so much noise. Even if she does wake up, I'll tell her it was my idea." Kara rounded the corner to Panda's hallway and looked up at the torches. They were still burning strongly. She had plenty of time. "Stay outside. We'll probably yell at each other, but don't come in unless you hear stuff breaking."

Avaiidan was dozing off outside of Panda's room. He reached for his sword when he saw them approaching, but immediately relaxed. "Princess, what's this about? Your sister is sleeping-"

"She _was_ sleeping. Stay outside. There will be yelling. We'll probably punch each other a few times, but unless she's got another weapon hidden in there, I'll be fine. I fight better than her… when it's fair, anyway." They didn't know about what had happened on the training match, and Kara decided not to tell them. It was the reason why she had decided to go late at night. An unsuspecting Panda wouldn't be dangerous. "And if Aunt Serena asks, this never happened. Understand?"

The Queensguard looked at each other in wordless frustration, but they both nodded.

"Good. Now get out of my way." Kara grabbed the doorknob and opened it carefully. Panda's room was dark, but she could see her sister's outline breathing under the bedcovers. She took a firmer grip on the training sword as she crept across the floor, then reached out and carefully shook Panda's shoulder.

"It's me. Wake up, I need to talk to you."

Panda sat up so quickly, Kara thought she might not have been sleeping at all. She blinked at Kara in confusion before seeing the sword in her hand.

"I knew it," Panda hissed. "You're here to kill me."

"I said I need to talk," Kara began. She didn't get out much more of her sentence before Panda yanked something dark from underneath her pillow and lunged for her throat. Kara blocked the blow, grabbed her wrist, and twisted it until Panda finally dropped the sword. "Listen to me! If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it already!" She kicked the weapon out of reach and tossed her own away as well.

"Do it then," Panda whispered. Her lip was trembling and Kara realized she was trying not to cry. "It makes us even, doesn't it?"

"I'm not here to get even. I have one question. That's all. Answer it and I'll leave." Kara tightened her grip on Panda's arms when she tried to wrench free. She had always been physically stronger than her sister.

"Fine. Ask and then get the hell out." The tension in Panda's arms went out and she glared furiously at Kara.

"Tell me why you hate me."

Panda looked at her in incredulous fury. "You really don't know why?"

"Just tell me what changed," Kara pleaded. "That's all I want to know. I have to know."

Her sister went pale, then flushed with rage. The bandage on her cheek stood out where Serena had slapped her in the garden.

"I have nothing because of you!" Panda screamed. "The birthright is yours! Aunt Serena stands behind your coronation next year. Everyone knows that. I never asked to be the youngest, and now I am nothing. I will never be anything but your shadow. Is it so wrong of me to want more than that, even if it means sacrificing you? Don't pretend you wouldn't feel the same in my place."

She pulled away from Kara and rolled over. Kara let her go. She couldn't argue. There was nothing she could say to Panda that she didn't already know. How many nights had she lain here in her bitterness and envy, plotting the death of the sister she never wanted?

"You were my best friend," Kara finally managed to say. "I might have hated you during our lessons… but it was never like this. Tell me what changed."

Panda didn't respond. Her face was buried in her pillow, but Kara could hear the slightest hint of sobbing. Her heart ached. She wanted to reach out and hug Panda, but somehow she knew it was the wrong thing to do. She wanted time, and Kara would give her time.

"Please," Kara whispered. "Talk to me."

"Go away," Panda finally mumbled into her sheets.

"No."

"I don't want to talk about this."

"I'll wait until you do."

There was no answer. Kara sat down on the edge of the bed and watched her shoulders shake with the weight of her crying.

" _Blood only matters when it is spilled, little one_ ," Kakapos had said on the training field.

She would prove him wrong. She had to.

It felt like hours passed, in the dim moonlight with only the sound of her own breathing in the room. The moon slowly sank out of sight and a few gold rays of sunlight began to appear. Kara's spine began to ache from sitting so long, but she was determined to endure. It was a small discomfort to bear.

She felt something shift and looked up. Panda was rubbing her eyes as she sat up. Her face was still tear-stained and her shoulders were slumped. Kara had never seen her look so defeated.

"Just leave," Panda muttered. "There's nothing you can do. I already know you won't give up the birthright for me. You'll just throw me out of the palace when I start threatening you and I'll have to hide like Aunt Lucy until I die."

Kara blinked in confusion. "What?"

"Aunt Serena said it would happen eventually," Panda sniffled. "It was a while ago. But… I didn't want to wait for that to happen so-"

"I wouldn't do that," Kara murmured. "Panda… that never even crossed my mind. You're my sister, and that means something to me. I won't give up the birthright to you, but I never wanted you to leave. I wouldn't have come here if I didn't think we could fix this."

"I guess," Panda said weakly.

"Listen to me," Kara said. "Fioren told me about what happened to the last Regent. The heir had to have him executed because he wouldn't give her the Crown. We're the ones with the real power, Panda. Aunt Serena is afraid of us because she knows she'll have to give it up eventually. She turned you against me on purpose."

"Why though?" Panda asked. "You saw how she treats me. She just wants to make sure I don't challenge you for the throne. I'm practically worthless." She wiped away fresh tears and stared out of the window.

"Because if we're busy fighting each other, it's proof for the shamans to not confirm one of us for the throne." The puzzle pieces were falling together. Kara tried to keep the anger out of her voice, but it was difficult. "She's using all of us to keep her power."

Panda looked back at her and twisted the sleeve of her pajamas. "I still don't get why you wanted to talk to me about this."

Kara took a deep breath and tried to think of another angle to explain it to her. "Did you see Zinc before he left?"

"Yeah. He gave me this." Panda reached for the drawer of her bedside table and took something out. It was a miniature healing totem, built on the same scale as Kara's. "And… and he asked me to talk to you too."

"What else did he say?"

"He told me he knew about what happened during the training duel," Panda whimpered. She gripped her totem and lowered her head, but Kara could see new tears running down her cheeks. "He said something big was going to happen, really soon, and to stay away from Aunt Serena and everyone else from the House of Light." She sniffled loudly and wiped her face. "And he said something about how he couldn't watch us end up in the same situation as her."

"He said that to me too," Kara said quietly. She reached hesitantly for Panda's hands and squeezed them. "We have one enemy here. And I need your help."

Her sister looked her fully in the eye for the first time, and Kara saw something there that wasn't smug satisfaction, or hate, or sadness.

"What do you need?" Panda finally asked.

"Zinc said he couldn't convince the warriors that he wasn't what they needed to fear," Kara said. "He said I would meet the Unbroken shamans at the gates of Stormwind. They're coming to take Serena off the throne, and we need to help them. I need you to talk to the warriors. Find a way to convince them to help when it happens. Don't go to Q_T or anyone like that, but talk to whoever ran the mines outside of Stormwind." She let go of Panda's hands and stood up. "Take the Queensguard with you, if you want, but make sure Aunt Serena doesn't hear a word of it. You're the Princess, remember? You've got a better claim to the Crown than she ever did."

Panda's lips trembled, then formed into the faintest of smiles.

"I'll do my best."

 **NO COMMUNITY DECISION**


	27. The Test

The nights at Thornhill were gloomy and cold, especially moving into the fall season. Angel tried not to yawn, but it was difficult. They had been camped out for days now, and nothing had happened. There were already sentries in the forest and at the Sanctum, and he wondered why they needed another guard. He was already sleep-deprived enough, and he doubted a few hours without a watch wouldn't hurt. Angel glanced around one last time, saw nothing, and decided to turn in for the night.

Something caught the corner of his vision and he snapped awake. Shapes in the darkness, just beyond the camp. They were moving quickly, but stealthily. Angel squinted hard, but they were gone as quickly as they'd appeared.

Was he seeing things? He picked up his void edge and began walking over to where he thought he had seen them. It wouldn't hurt to check.

A figure suddenly loomed up in front of him. Angel opened his mouth to scream, but a pair of hands clamped around his throat. Lightning slashed back and forth in a blinding glare of blue-white. The last thing he saw was Iris' ruby thorn plunging towards his chest.

Syncro knocked her spear away just before it impaled the unconscious thunderlord. "No! Save it for Elivagar." He looked left and right, hoping they hadn't made too much noise already. There were only four of them, on Luc's orders. "We don't have time. Move!"

Cadences pointed to the campfire at the center. "He should be there. If he is not, they've camped him at the Sanctum and it's too risky to try that. Split up and search the tents as fast as you can. Stay out of sight." She and Iris ran towards the nearest one and sliced the flap open, then disappeared into the darkness.

Syncro headed towards the fire. He had a feeling that Elivagar wouldn't have been allowed at the Sanctum yet, but he had to know that he was being hunted. He would be in the safest possible place, with a guaranteed escape route and plenty of light. "Come on. He'll be past the fire near the path out of Thornhill." Nightwolf followed as he hurried through the campsite.

The stony ground crackled under their feet. Syncro glanced around again, and cut open the tent flap. A thin sliver of firelight revealed two sleeping thunderlords. He closed it again and kept moving.

"Syncro. Over here." Nightwolf pointed at a tent. "It might be him. I can't tell."

He looked up and hurried over. Both occupants were earthwardens, but they were still wearing their masks. "Damn it. I can't see-"

A scream suddenly rang out from across the camp. Lightning arced down from the sky and exploded in a shower of sparks. Cadences shouted something and a boulder shattered somewhere far off.

"We're out of time. The Sanctum will be waking up soon. Just kill them," Nightwolf whispered.

Syncro dropped the tent flap and crouched down. He heard the earthwardens jump up and grab their weapons. As the entrance flew open, Syncro tossed down his totem and cast a chain lightning at them. It pulsed with power and both of them staggered, but only one fell. The second earthwarden managed to summon a boulder and threw it straight into Syncro's face, knocking him away from the totem and into the fire.

"It's him!" Nightwolf shouted. "Syncro-" His words cut off as an earthen spike tossed him into the air. The first earthwarden lunged at him and they disappeared into the tent shadows.

Syncro managed to roll out of the flames and get back to his feet. Lightning bolts hissed past his head and he ducked down. The other thunderlord was outside of the circle of firelight, but he could see a faint outline. He spit out blood and tried to aim at them just as the earthwarden tackled him.

"You again." Elivagar's voice was muffled under his mask, but it was unmistakably him. Syncro broke his hold and slashed at him, forcing him back. If he could somehow push Elivagar towards the forest entrance without being followed, they would have a chance to kill him and escape. He dodged around another boulder and tried to look for Cadences and Iris, but they were nowhere to be seen. They didn't have time.

Someone screamed, very close, and Syncro's heart jumped into his throat. Iris stumbled into the firelight, bruised and bloody, with her left arm bent at an impossible angle. Lightning scars marked her entire face. One of her eyes was dead white and glazed over. Elivagar grabbed her broken arm and twisted it viciously, holding her in front of him as a shield. Iris shrieked again, and went limp in his grip.

"Make your choice," Elivagar said coldly. "Chase me and all of your friends will die."

He tossed the unconscious thunderlord into the fire and raced into the darkness beyond the camp, heading for the outskirts of Thornhill.

 **COMMUNITY DECISION: Save Iris, Cadences, and NightWolf, allowing Elivagar to escape.**


	28. The Bindings of the Void

The lab was unusually focused as the teams tried to prepare ingredients for smaller-scale testing. It had been a quiet day, which Theo was grateful for, but Sheer and Heatran were already packing up finished ingredients and arguing across the room.

"All I'm saying is that mine worked and yours didn't," Sheer pointed out. "That's all. Just a fact."

"I also didn't blow up a room full of people and blind an aquamancer. Just another fact." Heatran set an alembic over a low flame and adjusted it until the contents were boiling strongly. "And since you seem to be so interested in facts, all of my past teammates are still alive, unlike yours."

"That was years ago!" Sheer protested.

"It still makes me wonder why he kept you on," Heatran said loudly.

"Well clearly he thinks at least one of us needs to get s*** done around here, and it isn't you," said Sheer. He unwrapped a clean wooden stirring stick and started mixing a few drops of light blue liquid into a packet of black powder.

"Bulls***, I do everything around here. Just because you can make some smoke and loud noises once a week doesn't mean you actually contribute. It makes you look like a goddamn idiot."

Sheer rolled his eyes and threw the stirring stick at him. "I don't care if you're gonna be a smartass, but can I get a little more 'smart' and a little less 'ass'?"

"Nope, deal with it." Heatran poured the alembic results into a new vial, corked it, and set it aside. "You almost got me killed twice in the last three weeks. You don't get to complain about me."

"It was for a good cause," Sheer insisted.

"There is no good cause that's going to kill me before it kills you. Go back to your f***ing station and try to make something that works for once." Heatran picked up the fallen stirring stick and threw it back. "If you don't mind, I'm taking my team out of here before they end up blind, or worse."

"Hold that L," Creaam hooted from across the room.

Sheer pointed his frostbite at him just as the door opened and Fontn walked in.

"By the gods, this is a college, not an elementary schoolyard!" The grouchy pyromancer slammed the door closed and glared around at the teams. "I want everyone's weapons stowed out of sight, and the next open mouth I see will be catching a fireball. Understood?"

Everyone nodded silently.

"Good. Tomol, I want to see your teammate Theo about her material requisition list for this upcoming season. There are some… unconventional items that need to be approved. I've also arranged for the abandoned mining site outside of Stormwind to be used for perfecting the smaller-scale explosion. There's no way we're ever trying that indoors again. Keep in mind, you are all still under orders not to speak to anyone about what we're doing out there. If they ask, refer them to me. Good luck, everyone, and let's avoid more… incidents." Fontn directed the last half of the sentence at Sheer. "Theo. Library, please, at your earliest convenience." He shot one last look around the room and left.

"Well, I think this has been productive for all of us so far." Tomol's smile was forced to the point where it looked visibly painful. "We've fixed a severe problem with the mining system, hopefully introduced a little more quality of life for the workers, and we've all confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that Sheer is a murderous psychopath."

"Agreed," Theo muttered. Her jaw was still sore, even though it had been a few days. Sonic had done a good job of replacing her broken teeth and repairing her ear, but she hadn't been able to see one of the more professional aqua medics. They were too busy trying to fix Plikie's empty eye sockets.

"Let's get some good documentation of the lab prep. Now that we're certain we can synthesize shards, we need to try and dial back the amount of escaped energy. Start prepping the ingredients, and we'll run tests outdoors tomorrow. Fontn asked me to warn all aquamancers not to allow any water near the reactants, so Sonic, I need you to sit this one out. It's for your own good." Tomol twisted the dial on the gas burner and set a beaker of purple liquid on the surface. "Theo, stir until it evaporates and then you can go see Fontn about the requisitions. I'll take care of the really difficult ingredients, but I need Kirby and Ninja's full attention for it."

Kirby raised his head from the book he had been using as a pillow and blinked sleepily. "My what?"

"Your… you know what, never mind."

Fontn was already at the library by the time Theo arrived. He was holding the tiny brass summons bell from Sindre's desk and ringing it, but the librarian was oddly absent.

"Ah, there you are." Fontn put down the bell and unfolded Theo's requisition form. "So here's what I've got for you so far. The nitric and hydrochloric acid are standard issue. One large natural void shard, a testing-size gold ingot, and a liter of chlorine solution. As for the other items... I've made a deal with Sindre for the, um, full human skeleton that you requested." Fontn squinted at the form again. "You will be responsible for returning it in the condition that you received it, and should any parts of it be damaged beyond repair, you will cover the cost of replacing them. And before you ask, no, that does NOT mean that you should go out and kill someone for the part. I have had that happen and it was _very_ difficult to explain to the family of the deceased."

Theo nodded and tried not to cringe.

"The second request… I cannot guarantee. Sindre is very protective of the artifacts in his care, particularly the one you asked for." Fontn rang the bell louder, but Sindre was still nowhere to be seen. "Anything with historical significance like that is generally not permitted for loaning. Are you sure there are no substitutions for the item?"

"I'm sure. It has to be silver, and it has to be from the House of Light. But… I guess I could use anything. A ceremonial coin, or a pendant, maybe. Even a chalice or something would work."

"Hmm. Well, if Sindre ever bothers to show up, I think that will open up some more options." Fontn irritably smacked the bell against the desk surface. "For the love of the gods, I am not paying him to sit around and-"

"Who is making so much noise out here?!" Sindre bellowed. He threw his office door open, but stopped short when he saw Fontn. "You. Of course."

"I told you to be expecting me here, and to bring one of the anatomy skeletons and the engraved silver medal. So far, you've failed on all three counts. Would you like me to deduct that from your pay now, or shall I hold off, in case you're not done being a disappointment yet?" Fontn threw the bell aside and glared at Sindre. "I have been here for almost ten minutes."

"And I know damn well you haven't got that much time left in you anyway, you old windbag," Sindre growled. "You pay me next to nothing as it is."

"It will be nothing very soon if you continue to talk without fetching me those items right now." Fontn waved the requisition paper at him. "I said now!"

Sindre looked like he dearly wanted to argue, but he stomped away, muttering to himself. Theo bit her lip, not daring to say anything to either of them.

"I must ask, I was very curious about why you needed all of these things," Fontn remarked. "Of course you don't have to tell me, but if it might pose a safety threat to you or anyone at the College-"

"It's safe," Theo lied. "I just found an old booklet at the library earlier about… um, plating bone with gold. My sister is an acolyte at the House and I thought I could make her a little necklace out of her baby teeth with a pendant engraved with the inscription from the medal. It's the kind of weird little thing she'd like, but I need to practice on something bigger than a tooth first." In truth, Theo had no idea if the bizarre recipe poem she had found in her book would even do anything, or if she had interpreted it correctly, but she'd decided to try anyway. Fontn didn't need to know.

"Oh, you could have just told me it was personal." Fontn shrugged and looked around for Sindre again. "Well that answers all of my questions. Alright, here he comes. Looks like he's got a couple of different things for you to look at."

"Unfortunately, the exact medal you asked for is being re-etched and restored," Sindre huffed as he came back with several boxes. "I cannot lend it out until the process is finished, which might take a month or more. In the meantime, here are some artifacts of similar composition with different markings."

The first box held a gold medallion on a matching chain. Theo carefully opened the glass cover and set it aside. The natural light from the open skylight caught the details of the casting beautifully.

"This is a rather valuable piece. Solid gold, possibly upwards of three hundred years old. The engravings are in the common speech, and in excellent condition."

Sindre picked up the second box and opened it himself. "Here is the one I would prefer that you took, a lead medallion with the standard Blessing written on it. It's not perfectly preserved, but it is useable."

"Hmm." Theo picked up the third box. A silver ring lay on the white cushion inside. "Um, is this plain or marked?"

"It was marked, at some point. I think the engravings are still visible… oh dear. Maybe not." Sindre shrugged and covered the box again. "I'm not even sure if this was from the House or not. Documentation said it was found at the same site… Well, it was an alternative."

The last box contained a silver cup. A long heavy chain was looped through the handle. Theo turned it over in her hands, examining the intricate script around the base and rim. "What's this from?"

"It's a fairly modern satoire necklace; I believe it was donated from the House several years ago. The Ministers wear them as a temperance symbol. Anyway, here are your choices. I will have whichever one you choose brought to you in a day or so." Sindre put all of the lids back on the boxes and stacked them up. "Here is your… skeleton as well. Do take good care of it."

"I will," Theo promised. "Is it okay if I don't pick one of the artifacts right now?"

"Of course. Just come back by the end of today and tell me which one you want. I've heard that the teams are very busy as of late." Sindre shot an irritable glare at Fontn, who was dozing off on one of the desks nearby. "Evidently no one has told him that this is not a place to sleep."

Theo didn't know what to say to that, so she just shrugged noncommittally and unwrapped the folded cloth package containing the skeleton. All of the pieces were there, and the smallest bones were in a tiny wooden box. "Thank you. I'll be back when today's lab session is over."

"That is fine. Just do me a favor and don't bring him along," Sindre muttered.

When she returned to the lab, the prepwork was already finished and the team leaders were trying to run a demonstration lecture. There were already several shattered frostbolts melting on one of the walls, and Theo took the farthest seat she could find.

"We've done some good work so far but obviously there's some room for improvement- Creaam, just stop making noise. Just stop." Sheer threw his sheaf of papers down on the desk and took a deep breath. "Oh my gods. Anyway, the issue here is that the resulting shards aren't really as good quality as the original ones that were mined. But I think we can try to trigger a second round of explosions that generate the right heat and pressure to improve them if needed."

Fahsil opened a glass case in front of him and took out some of the cloudy void shards. "As you can see, these are basically unusable. It's going to take some time, but for now we need to concentrate on fusing these two inferior results into one seamless whole."

"That shouldn't be too hard for you," Tomol said innocently. "It's basically what you do to your eyebrows, right?"

Fahsil reached for his void edge. Theo looked at the two cryomancers and decided, for the second time that week, to run for cover.


	29. Forever Unbroken

_Chase me and all of your friends will die._

Syncro cursed under his breath as he watched the earthwarden disappear into the trees. He couldn't do it. He knew the danger that Elivagar posed to them, but he couldn't just leave Iris, Cadences and NightWolf behind. At least he was fleeing, but Syncro thought it was too much to hope that he wouldn't come back.

There was a hiss and a puff of foul smoke. Iris' hair was burning. Syncro ran back and managed to drag her out of the flames to safety. Her arm was badly broken and blood was soaking her armor where the bone had sliced through her skin. The electricity scars covering her face were almost hidden under angry red and black burns. She was still unconscious, and Syncro looked around for the earthwardens. There were two silhouettes in the darkness that he assumed were them, but they were too far away to reach in time.

Firelight blazed up at the top of the Sanctum and dozens of confused voices called to each other across the forest. His heart sank. It would be a miracle if they could escape being killed, let alone get out of the forest and get back to Attherough. Iris groaned weakly and the eyelid of her blinded eye fluttered, but he knew she wouldn't be able to run. Movement flickered past him, and he raised his weapon, but a boulder grazed his side and there was a nauseating crunch. Pain shot through his ribs. He knew at least two were broken but he forced it out of his mind and tried to pick up Iris.

Green light flashed briefly over the scene. Cadences managed to break away from the brawl and cast a quick chain heal. NightWolf's lightning almost blinded him for a second after the dim light of the fire, but Syncro tried to aim a volley of bolts into the tangle of fighters. Earthen spikes tossed him aside and he landed hard on his broken ribs. The sharp pain became a brutal stabbing that drove the air out of his lungs.

A woman's voice rang out over the chaos.

"Do not let them escape! Bring them to the Sanctum, alive. I know why they are here, and I have a message for their leader."

Rough hands yanked Syncro's weapon out of his hand and bound his wrists with rope. NightWolf and Cadences were similarly tied, and Iris was being dragged along the stony path by her arms. A crowd of masked figures were gathered by the base, watching and talking quietly among themselves as they were forced up the hill to the top. Syncro looked around, trying to spot familiar faces, but he couldn't see any. He took a brief satisfaction in the fact that Elivagar was noticeably absent.

There were nine seats arranged at the top of the Sanctum in a half circle. Four were occupied by masked shamans, and the center seat, higher than the others, held an unmasked earthwarden with cropped dark hair. A double-bladed axe lay across her lap, shimmering with green light.

"Is this all of them?" she asked. "Only four?"

"Yes, Silver." The thunderlord holding Syncro shoved him to the ground and tossed his weapon down next to him. "They only attacked one individual, but we have not found him. I believe he fled Thornhill entirely."

"Hmm, it was Elivagar, wasn't it?" The earthwarden smirked and twirled her axe in her hands. "I knew he would be trouble. He thought he was not followed out of Attherough, but I know Luc very well. He is sneaky."

Syncro kept quiet, weighing the odds. They were outnumbered and unarmed. Silver had ordered them to be kept alive for whatever reason, which gave him some hope, but he knew that the worst hadn't happened yet. _If you are caught, be honest,_ Luc had said. _Torture and lies is not the way of the Unbroken._

"They struck one sentry unconscious without killing him. He has not woken yet, despite our best efforts."

"Hopefully that will teach him to be more attentive next time. Have a seat, Barcode." Silver smiled coldly and rubbed a speck of dirt off of the blade of her axe. "Luc has kept all of you ignorant of his past with us, hasn't he? I suppose you are too young to remember."

"What?" Iris croaked.

"Perhaps this is his way of atoning for what he did," Silver said thoughtfully. "He was one of our Council seats, originally, before the Unbroken were forced out of the cities by the Crown. Hmm. Don't act so defiant. You would never have come here for him if you had known."

Syncro's mind raced. No wonder Luc had ordered them to go at night, out of sight of the Sanctum. The Unbroken were not only his old friends. What had changed?

"And now he sends you here to kill us." Silver looked at the other Unbroken and laughter rippled through the crowd. "His Council, ordered to work as his pet assassins. What a familiar sight. I did the same for him once, but we were after much more than a few dissenters… " She tossed another log onto the fire and orange sparks swirled up into the darkness. "How much did Luc offer you in exchange for Elivagar?"

 _Be honest._ "Nothing," Syncro said truthfully. "He and the others attacked us before they left. I considered this as just our way of returning the favor."

"Interesting." Silver looked at each of them in turn, but finally shrugged and leaned back in her seat. "Well, you already know that I am not going to kill you all outright, even though I think we all agree that you would deserve it."

Syncro tried not to sigh with relief. "Thank you."

"Do not thank me yet. I know that you disagree with our ways. But the time has come for the shamans to unite against the Crown once more, and we will either fight together or die together."

A chill ran through him at Silver's words. She looked right into his eyes, perfectly serious and calm. "What are you saying?"

"They're going to march on Stormwind," Cadences gasped. "You're insane! They'll destroy you!"

"Not this time, because we have a chance that we have never had before!" Silver gripped the arms of her chair and leaned forward. "Stormwind is in chaos. Its factions have never been so divided. The warriors are barely held in control by the Crown, and the mages will not remain neutral for much longer. The House of Light sent half of its acolytes to Arathi barely three days ago. Their presence in the city is weaker than it has ever been."

"Are you trying to wipe all of us out?" Iris' voice was shaky and broken, but she was still conscious. "We all know what happened the last time we tempted the wrath of the House of Light."

"We have suffered enough," Silver whispered. "They have forgotten what we are capable of. We are poised to strike one last blow at the heart of the Regent's power, and then the city will be open to us. Luc was always too afraid to act, but I know he wants to see the palace burn just as much as we do."

"Impossible," NightWolf murmured.

"I think it is time for you to realize the difference between impossible and unthinkable." Silver stared into the flames before her, and Syncro realized with a tiny jolt of horror that he had seen the exact same expression on Luc's face many times. "Our plan is already in motion."

"Then what do you want from us?" Cadences demanded.

"Here is my request of you. It is only one thing. Katana and I will accompany the wounded thunderlord girl, only her, back to Attherough to speak with Luc ourselves, then, regardless of his answer, she will convince Luc to allow us to leave alive and unharmed. There will be no more sneaking or secrets. If you do it, I will spare you and your friends to meet us again outside of Stormwind. If not… well... you are either with us or against us."

 **NO COMMUNITY DECISION**


	30. The Outcome

It was much too dark to see anything well, but Elivagar knew the path. He had been anticipating the journey for a long time. His horse was in the stables, already saddled, and it was an easy task to ride out of the woods and down the overgrown road towards Attherough. He could pass around the valley unseen and move towards Arathi. Luc had been expecting the extremists to take shelter in Thornhill, not the city. He would be safe there until he could figure out his next move. Elivagar moved as quickly as he dared, without making too much noise, and he didn't think he had been followed. Syncro would not leave Iris to certain death, even if killing Elivagar was his goal.

The thunderlord had attacked him, and only him. Syncro had made an earnest attempt to kill him, passing up all of the other refugees from Attherough. Why? Elivagar knew that Luc blamed him for the rise of the extremists, but they had fled the valley as he had ordered. What threat had the chieftain seen in him that would force him into sending the Council to kill him? It made very little sense, which disturbed him greatly. Perhaps he was too afraid of the power of the Unbroken united with the other refugees.

Branches suddenly rustled on the path ahead. Elivagar pulled his horse to a halt and drew his felflame blade. All he could see in its dim greenish light was a human silhouette holding a basket. They wore a shaman mask, but he couldn't see if they had a weapon or not. It couldn't be Syncro; there was no way any of the attackers had managed to outrun him without being seen.

"Who's there?" he called. "I am armed. Show yourself."

"Elivagar? Is that you?" The voice was female and his heart leaped.

"Lily?"

"Oh gods! I thought you were in Thornhill with the others!" Lily shoved her way through the dense bushes and ran up to him, pulling off her mask. "Why did you leave? You're hurt! What's going on? Is everyone alright?"

"I don't know. I can tell you everything later. Are Mag and your friend still with you?"

"Yes, come on. We're camped over here. You've got to tell us everything. The past few days have been a nightmare. But I'm so glad you're safe." Lily beckoned him through the trees and into a hidden clearing with a tent. "You can tie your horse with ours over here. How long have you been on the road? Thornhill isn't far from here."

"A few hours, I'm not sure." Elivagar tried to look up at the moon to gauge the time, but it was hidden in the treetops. "I had to get out of Thornhill. Luc sent some of the Council after me, but only me. They passed everyone else to get to my tent. Syncro hit me with a totem and I took a few bolts getting out, but they didn't kill me."

"Well you're safe here, or as safe as we can all get these days," Lily said sadly. She opened the tent and nudged him inside. "Mag, Zinc, wake up. We've got company."

The two shamans snapped awake and scrambled for their weapons. Elivagar quickly pulled off his mask, letting them see his face. "It's just me. What happened? I thought you were in the city."

"Elivagar?" Mag got to his feet and quickly embraced the other earthwarden. "Gods, you're burned. Sit down, I think I can fix this."

"What a time to meet like this again," Zinc mumbled. He rubbed his eyes and put his sword away. "It's been a long time."

"It has. I gave your notes to Silver and the others when we got to Thornhill. Why are you on the road like this?"

"Stormwind is too volatile right now. I tried to do a bit of diplomacy with the warriors, but they were… resistant to the idea, to say the least. It got violent. Next day, I get summoned to the House of Light and questioned about my involvement in the riots. They're closing ranks. The Crown has gone utterly paranoid." Zinc shook his head disapprovingly and put some more sticks on the fire.

"Mag, what happened with you and Lily?" Elivagar asked. The earthwarden let out an unintelligible grunt as he prodded the lightning burns and his totem shimmered in the firelight. Lily shook her head.

"We had to abandon Arathi," she murmured. "The House was sending reinforcements from Stormwind; more acolytes were out every day. We heard rumors of them stopping and questioning random mages on the street. It was too much of a risk to stay. Zinc met us on the road and we're going to accompany him to a place at the Neolithic chasm. He needs to investigate something he heard about before he left the city, and we're hoping it'll be a safer place for her." She reached out and squeezed the sleeping mage's shoulder gently. "She had the presence of mind to remember most of what she heard, but we think there might be a little more."

Elivagar touched the burn cautiously, but it was no longer sore. He breathed a sigh of relief as Mag undid his chestplate and went to work on the scars from Syncro's capacitor totem. Warm green light blazed up and flickered out.

"He did a pretty good job on you," Mag said bleakly. "The muscles are still spasming. Let's try to relax a little more. Deep breaths. This might sting a little."

Elivagar did as he asked, but agonizing pain suddenly ripped through his back and he almost screamed. More green light flashed back and forth, and Lily placed down her own healing totem as well.

"Hang on," he said, trying to get his thoughts in order. "What do you mean, they were questioning random mages? Are you sure they were after you?"

"No, but it wasn't a chance we were willing to take. Honestly, it was pure luck that we found Zinc passing through Arathi on the way to the chasm." Lily put away her totem and her weapon. "I'm glad Syncro didn't chase you very far. I'm sure Luc must have put out a hit specifically on you."

"I'm sure he did," Elivagar said irritably. "I need to get back to the camp somehow."

"How many attacked you?" Zinc asked.

"I couldn't tell. It was way too dark. All I saw was lightning and people rushing around near the fire. I don't know if anyone is dead. I hope it wasn't just a warning before a bigger attack," Elivagar said warily. "I should have killed Syncro when I had the chance."

Zinc twisted his hands nervously. "No. This runs deeper than a schism between the tribes. Did you read my notes at all?"

"Of course I did. But I have no faith in the warriors of Stormwind. All they care about is their own safety."

"Yes, but that is something we can use." Zinc peered over at the sleeping mage and nodded thoughtfully. "Serena has threatened them with public executions, should the unrest continue. I am sure this will only fan the flames. I did my best to arrange some talks with other allies before I left the city, but I can only hope that they will be fruitful."

"In the meantime, Neolithic is safe for us," Mag said. "Come along with us. If Luc did order you specifically to be killed, returning to the camp will put the others in danger."

"They will think I'm dead if I don't go back," Elivagar pointed out.

"All the more reason to stay away, if your death is what Luc wanted. I have faith in the Council of the Unbroken. They know an earthwarden is not dead until the body is found." Zinc laughed darkly and picked up his sword again. "I know that tactful diplomacy is not your strength, but your persuasion might be a useful to all of us later."

Elivagar thought for a moment, but finally relented. They had a point, and it would be safer traveling with a group instead of alone.

"Very well. I'll come with you."

 **NO COMMUNITY DECISION**


	31. The Analysis

The horses were being packed for the three-day journey to the mining site at Neolithic. Axoy looked up at the pale sunlight. Summer was fading quickly into autumn, and there was a nip of coolness in the air that had nothing to do with the approaching dusk. The glittering towers of Stormwind behind them looked like they were already covered in frost. Axoy did not mind the cold; no true warrior did. But they would be in the desert for months if the mining site stayed consistent, and he wasn't looking forward to the constant cycles of heat and cold. He wondered if the mages had come up with anything yet. Q_T hadn't yelled at him about it, so he figured they either didn't know, or they didn't care. Either way was fine by him.

Hoofbeats thundered up the trail. A messenger in a blue hood raced past him. The rider dismounted and spoke a few quiet words to Soup, pressing a small packet into his hand. Soup dropped the items he had been packing, nodded, and then rushed over to Axoy.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's from Ender. I need to get to the College. There's been an accident at the lab. Plikie's hurt bad."

"What? What happened?"

"I don't know. But please… Raidi and I need to see her, just once before we go. Is it too much to ask that you wait a little before leaving? He said it would only take a few minutes." Soup looked pale and more scared than Axoy had ever seen him. "Please."

Axoy hesitated, but finally shrugged. "Yes, go. I know you were close."

"Thank you. You have no idea what this means to me. We'll be back as soon as we can." Soup hurried away to where Raidibotti was helping the mage guards roll up the tent fabrics and load them up. Axoy watched him go. Soup had been very withdrawn since the trip to Crossfire weeks ago. He wasn't sure why, but it seemed like it was due to more reasons than just the site rejection.

Pran and Natalie were wrapping barrels of smelter fuel in damp cloths to prevent stray sparks from igniting the contents. One of the mages was helping to check off a packing list while holding the lead horse steady. It was only a small trip that would establish a base camp and do a more detailed survey, but the trip wasn't one that Axoy wanted to make ever again. Q_T would arrive later to approve it for production after seeing their setup, and then it would be another year of bloody, brutal work until… until what? Until he died in a collapse like Tiff, or one of those damned monsters cut his head off, or the House of Light fell in on itself and got rid of Q_T and Serena in one fell swoop. Axoy laughed darkly to himself. At least the first two were likely.

Pran finished tying off the knots and offered Axoy a canteen. It was just water, but the dust from the dead site stung his throat and he drank it gratefully. "Thanks. Are we ready to move out when they get back?"

"Yeah." Pran tucked the canteen away and sat down on a crate. "But there was one thing I wanted to talk about from Tiff's death report and the report for the mage Rainblaze. Why is the site approved if it's already known to be unstable?"

"The House sent acolytes to check it out and recover the bodies. They said the collapsed area was the only unstable region and that the debris could be cleared. Besides, Q_T doesn't care about what happens to us as long as she gets what she wants." Axoy scratched his sword on the ground bitterly. "I've thought about it enough already."

Pran twisted a sheet of paper in his hands. "They're sending us into a death trap. Have you been to Neolithic any other time besides on surveys? It's pure desert in all directions. If you die there, you're never found. The sand just swallows you up."

"This life is a death trap, it's just a matter of time before it closes," Axoy said impatiently. "Look at it this way. If we had shown up there at the site before the eroded part of the ravine collapsed, we'd all be dead by now. Maybe Tiff's death saved us some time and trouble. But if you're nervous about the assignment, go talk to Q_T. I'm sure she'll be delighted to hear more complaints from us."

"That's not what I meant," Pran snapped at him.

"What did you have in mind then? More vandalism? Riots? Unrest? Protests? We're flies in the Regent's face and she'll swat us just as easily. I'd rather get my ass as far from Stormwind as possible before getting hauled off by the Queensguard and executed. Neolithic is three days out. At this point, it's the only freedom we have until the mages do whatever the hell they're trying to do." Axoy tossed down his pack and stood up. "I hope Tiff's accident was at least productive. Maybe it opened up more shard veins."

"Anything that kills more of us is productive to them," Pran muttered.

"Exactly. You heard the announcement. The Ministers of the House are going to be ordering searches on suspected collaborators in the riots. They'll have you and your friends killed publicly for treason, and you won't be able to do a damn thing if you're dead. Don't even think about being a martyr. There's enough of those already." Axoy hurried over to where one of the mages was struggling with the smelter parts and helped him hoist it up onto the wagon. "Dying for this isn't worth it when so many others die every day. It's about staying alive despite everything they throw at us."

Pran shrugged and looked up at the sky. "I just want this to end… I want to find a way to make them pay."

"We all do. But this isn't the answer. When we're at the chasm, we'll be far enough away from the House that they can't spy on us. We still have a chance as long as we keep a low profile." Axoy hated what he was suggesting, but he knew it was the only way. They needed time and safety, and Neolithic would be their best opportunity for both.

"Fine." Pran stood up and shaded his eyes from the sunlight. "Look. I think Raidibotti and Soup are coming back."

"Already?" Axoy looked over at them and frowned. "What's wrong with his face?"

"Soup, are you okay?" Pran called.

The warriors came closer. One eye from each of them was covered with a cloth bandage.

"It was her eyes, Axoy. One of the demos went wrong and destroyed them. Ender cleaned her up and got the nerves fixed, but they couldn't find donors... so we volunteered." Soup looked at the ground and took a shaky breath. "It was the least we could do for her."

Axoy's first instinct was horror, but he pushed it back. It wasn't for him to judge.

"That was brave," Pran said gently. "You loved her, didn't you?"

"I did. I still do. And if I die out there… at least some part of me will still be with her." Soup threw the reins of his horse over a post and carefully touched the patch over his missing eye. "It's weird. It doesn't hurt at all."

"It's going to take both of you a while to adjust," Axoy finally said. "Do you want to stay behind and wait for the second trip?"

"No. I'm fine. Let's just get out of here." Soup walked away and picked up the items he had been packing. "The sooner, the better."

 **NO COMMUNITY DECISION**


	32. The Replication

Theo didn't know how long she had been awake. All she knew was that she was so incredibly close to finishing the recipe. The skeleton was laid out on the smooth stone tiles, and her other ingredients sat in separate beakers on the counter nearby.

"This is such a bad idea," Wheat whimpered from the doorway. "Do you even know what's going to happen?"

"Of course I know," Theo said robotically. She poured some of the pig's blood from its container, measuring out a fourth of a liter. "We're going to call up a friend."

Dtron and Morken exchanged terrified looks and backed away. Theo tried not to laugh at the sight. She had convinced the three pyros from Zech's team to help out with the preparation, and they had done a fine job, but she hadn't told them about the outcome.

 _A cup of blood that must be fresh_

Theo had sent Wheat to make an early morning trip to the butcher. She had been met with some confused stares, but she had eventually gotten what she wanted.

 _Some royal water, starved for flesh._

The nitric and hydrochloric acids sat separately. She hadn't mixed them yet, knowing that the _aqua regia_ combination wasn't stable, but she had already mixed some to dissolve her gold bar. Dtron had mixed it with the chlorine and used a few fireballs to evaporate it into a dry yellow powder that sparkled dully in the torchlight.

 _The remnants of a man destroyed,  
A shattered mirror of the Void._

The void shard was of exceptional quality, sparkling clear violet with smooth edges and mirror-like surfaces. Theo unwrapped it from its tiny cloth and placed it under the skeleton's ribcage, where the heart would have been.

 _Then bind it all in false-faced gold,  
A form to shield him from our cold._

Morken picked up the container of gold powder and began sprinkling it over the bones, lightly brushing it with his gloved hand to spread it evenly. The substance smelled strange and sharp. When the skeleton was covered, Theo took out the engraved silver cup on the chain and placed it around the bony neck.

 _When he is here, give him a name;  
The monster in the darkness, tame._

"We're ready," Theo said. "Morken, give me a 1 to 3 _aqua regia_ solution. Hand me the blood beaker and the hammer from the desk. No matter what happens, stay back. If anything goes wrong, get out, seal the blast doors, and tell Fontn there's been an emergency in the rear wing. We can't let this thing get loose."

Morken simply grunted as he poured the acids into a fresh cup and handed her the bright orange result. Wheat's eyes nearly bulged out of her head, but she nodded. Dtron gripped his staff and looked at the door.

"Let's do it." Theo took a deep breath, knowing it very well might be her last. She reached under the ribs and smashed the shard with the hammer as hard as she could, then threw the acid and the blood over the whole thing and stumbled back.

Dark smoke hissed up from the broken shard, billowing out under the ribs. The gold powder glowed white-hot and began to melt. It ran over the skeleton, coating each piece with a fine metallic sheen. The acid and pig's blood met, curdled, and separated again. The mixture was pulling away from the floor tiles, rising up into the bones. The smoke grew darker and thicker. It spread out along each limb until the bones were hidden underneath. It brushed the silver cup on the chain and recoiled from the metal. Two points of purple light flared to life in the skull's eye sockets.

Theo could barely breathe. The air in the room had become suffocatingly hot. It stank of blood, chlorine, and burning metal. Her head spun. Every bit of color on the walls stood out in too much clarity. She felt as if she had been turned upside down and quickly righted. Wheat's screams of terror seemed to echo from a great distance.

Black and purple sparks exploded across the thing's smoky flesh. Theo raised her hand to shield her eyes, but didn't dare look away completely. Something moved underneath the fog. The skeleton's hand, covered in the living smoke, clenched into a fist and relaxed. The toes twitched and the neck turned slightly. Theo's breath caught in her throat. She wondered detachedly what Fontn would say if he saw what was happening.

 _"What is this…"_

The voice cut right though her daze, sending chills up her spine. It came from the abomination on the floor, still moving ever so slightly. The jaw opened and shut, out of sync with the words.

" _Come closer. Do not fear_."

"No!" Wheat cried. "Don't listen to it!"

Theo felt as if her blood had turned to lead in her veins. Every movement felt heavy and unnatural. The creature's violet eyes shone through the darkness, like a light for her to follow…

Hands grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back. The spell broke. She looked up at Dtron in shock, realizing how close she had come to touching the thing imprisoned in the skeleton. There was no doubt in her mind that it had tried to kill her.

"Nice try," Theo whispered. "Almost had me for a minute. What the hell are you?"

There was a clatter of bones against tile as the monster laid its hands on the floor and pushed itself into an upright sitting position. Wheat began to sob from the corner of the room.

"Answer me!" Theo shouted.

It lunged at her, too quickly to be seen. Incorporeal purple claws plunged towards Theo's face. Dtron raised his staff and tried to block it, but there was no need. Blinding yellow light sparked violently where the monster barely touched her skin, and it retreated with a terrible roar of agony. Smoke boiled up from its burned limb.

 _A silver coin around his neck will keep his wildness in check…_

Apparently it didn't have to be a coin. Theo touched her face. Her hands were shaking badly. The creature was clawing furiously at its chest, trying to dig out the silver chain, but to no avail.

"That's right. I know how to control you." Theo grabbed the poetry book from the counter and held it up. "I know you're from the void, and I know you've been here before. You're not leaving until you answer some questions."

" _Silly little mage_." A crude face formed over the skull and smiled grotesquely. " _Perhaps I will not kill you after all. You remind me so much of her._ "

Its voice was awful, not rough or threatening, but smooth and utterly emotionless. Theo fought off her urge to run out of the room and turned to the picture page, of the girl holding the beast on its chain. "She was the first one who summoned you. Who was she?"

" _Ah, the questions. Always the questions_." The monster gripped the counter and pulled itself to its feet. " _The girl was a warrior. Not a particularly gifted one, but stubborn. Brave and a little stupid, like you_."

Theo ignored the insult. "Did you kill her too?"

" _Of course not. The Light and the silver… it forces me to exist in your reality without the power I would have from the Void. I could not hurt her, though many times I wished I could_." Laughter gurgled up from the spasming jaw. " _I helped her, as she asked. The End of Days tasks are brutal. She would not have completed them without me. Of course, I could not save her from her own idiocy and she died as swiftly as she lived._ "

Theo frowned in confusion but Morken looked up. "You were summoned by one of the Honor-Bound?"

" _That is what I just said_." The purple eyes flickered several times, as if the creature was blinking. " _I gave her help that she did not deserve and a place in life that she did not earn. Though if she did learn one thing from our time together… I hope she now realizes that the Nether is a dangerous place._ "

"I don't understand." Theo tried to sort out what it had said and gave up. The heat in the room was making her sleepy. "We're being attacked by other monsters from the Void, who were summoned just like you; from broken shards. But you're different from them. You can talk and think."

The monster's head snapped up and looked her right in the eyes. The twin lights grew blindingly bright and it let out a roar of fury. Theo and Dtron backed away as it slammed its fists down on the counter, leaving dents in the surface.

" _After all this time, they continue the slaughter!_ " it snarled. " _You fool. We have fought the devastation of our kind for years and still it makes no difference to humans. We do speak, and we do think. We have killed many of you, but what is a few hundred compared to thousands of our dead? Every broken shard leaves another of us stranded in your cold bleak stone world, and is it not better to fight than to die? I have a question for you, silly mage. The Void is crumbling. My people are dying. And you have trapped me and bound me with silver so that I have no choice but to obey you. Why do you believe I am the only monster here?_ "

The connections finally clicked in Theo's brain. It was so sudden and so obvious that she almost fell over.

"The Void is getting weaker. That's why the mine production is dropping. We're… the warriors are literally cutting away inhabited pieces of their reality. The monster incidents were getting closer together because they… they're mining away at more populated areas." Sick horror welled up inside her gut. "We've been exterminating them. They were innocent. We're slaughtering sentient beings and we didn't even realize it." Theo looked at her Gemini with new revulsion. How many had died for the shards she had used?

The creature tilted its head and looked oddly thoughtful. " _That is exactly right. You are smarter than you look._ "

Wheat tottered over, wiping the tears off her face with her sleeve. "So you're not going to kill us?"

The bony fingers tapped impatiently on the ruined desk surface. " _I am unable to hurt a living being in this world in the restraints you have given me. Even if I wanted to, which I do._ "

"Wait." Dtron stepped forward and lowered his staff. "That's what we've been working on. A way to stop the need for mining shards by artificially fusing quantities of magic dust together. If we succeed, the Void will be safe. No one else has to die."

Its hands went still and it looked up at him. " _Truly?_ "

"Yes," Theo said quickly. "The warriors were too afraid of the… beings in the mines and they asked for our help. We've found a way to produce our own shards without the need for natural sources." A desperate thought suddenly occurred to her. "We need your help. The College is in danger right now. The warriors are rioting because they're not safe in the mines or the city, and we need to keep the House of Light from interfering with the process testing site. Can you do anything to keep people under control until the shard process is perfected?"

The creature looked left and right, but finally seemed to relax. " _I suppose I am indebted to your kind for finding some way to preserve us_."

"Exactly," Theo said. She ignored the nervous glare from Morken and put down her Gemini and the poetry book. "You helped that Queensguard girl survive the End of Days tasks. This shouldn't be hard."

" _We will see about that_." The solid smoky flesh twisted and flickered, then crumbled away. Theo nearly screamed as its face smoothed out and changed color until it looked perfectly human and female. She was short and looked very young, with long white-blonde hair and the purple eyes of the void. " _You must name me and give me a very specific request, or else I cannot do what you want._ "

Theo had almost forgotten about the naming. "What did the warrior girl call you?" she asked.

" _I do not remember. We have no names in the Void._ "

"Um…" Theo looked at the monster's purple eyes, which still shone like cold stars in the plain face. "Fine. I'll call you Naebula."

 **COMMUNITY DECISION: Ask Naebula to keep the House of Light away from the College testing site outside of Stormwind, where the mages are still perfecting the shard manufacturing process.**


	33. The Conclusions

Axoy reached for the lead horse's reins and tried to drag the caravan to a halt. He was exhausted from the journey. The trail had disappeared after passing through Doriven, and they'd had to straggle along through the desert using only the survey map from the College. It had been a full two days of nothing but the sand, rocks, and heat in the Neolithic territory, untempered by the change in seasons, and he'd had more than enough.

"I can see the chasm steps," Pran shouted from up ahead. "Probably another five hundred feet. Are you sure you want to stop here?"

"I want to f***ing walk," Axoy growled. "I've been on this horse for four damn days. Give them some water and let's just go on foot. We'll have to walk anyway. The survey notes said that it's too narrow for horses."

"How can we get the equipment down there if the horses don't fit?" Natalie protested. "Well, I guess we could widen it by hand but that's going to be a real bitch."

"We'll deal with it later," Pran said. "Let's just go without any packs and check it for stability. If we can widen it later, we will."

"Raidi, you've got the horses. Soup, we're going in on foot. It'll be a short walk just to look around, and we'll be fine without packs." Axoy climbed off his horse and winced. His legs, and other areas, were horrifically sore. "Ow! Holy f***ing s***. Oh, gods. This better be worth it."

The four began making their way into the chasm. The air was noticeably cooler as they descended, and the high rock walls shaded the inside. Axoy had to turn sideways to fit through parts of the path, but it wasn't an impossible task. He breathed deeply and tried not to think about Tiff. Where had she died?

"There's a lot of debris up here," Pran called. "I think I can climb over it right now, but we'll have to move it somewhere if we want to get the horses through. This was probably where the collapse started."

"Can you see anything?" Soup yelled back.

"No, just a lot of broken rock. I'm getting over it now." Pran's words were almost drowned out by the crashing and clunking of the pile shifting around. "Almost there… Okay. It's sort of clear on this side. There's a cliff to the right that got wrecked, but everything else seems fine. Come on over. I'll give you a hand if you need it."

"Thanks." Axoy clambered over the fragments with Natalie and Soup close behind.

"I guess this is safe, as long as we don't touch all that broken s***," Pran remarked. "Should we just pile the rocks up in the collapsed area? I feel like that might stabilize it a little."

"I need to get a better look at it before we do anything. I just hope there's no… blood or anything under there." Axoy's stomach turned over at the thought. "Let's check out the left tunnel…"

Pran suddenly clamped his hand over Axoy's mouth and forced him back over the rock pile. They slid down over the side and Axoy tried to make a questioning gesture, but Natalie and Soup were crouched next to him a second later, looking terrified.

"Voices," Pran whispered. "Up ahead, coming from the collapsed rocks. I didn't recognize them. Sounds like two male, one female."

Axoy's heart jumped into his throat. "Alright. Stay down, weapons out. Do you think it's the House of Light?"

"Only person from the House who would have a reason to come here is Q_T. What do we do?" Natalie hissed.

"Just… stay down. I'm sure they already know we're here. We made way too much noise going over the rocks. Defender should go first." Axoy drew his sword and checked behind them, just in case. The chasm was empty, but the high stone walls suddenly felt threatening.

"Fine. Stay behind me." Pran edged back over the rocks, trying to cushion the shifting sounds with his free hand. "Keep your eyes on each other, and don't make too much noise. If we get attacked, you turn around and get the hell out of here. No spells. Don't want to risk another collapse."

The defender sneaked around the debris and peered around the corner. "Clear. Come on."

Axoy and Soup followed him through the choked path and down into the space. The rocks had buckled in the collapse and leaned precariously against each other, forming a rough tunnel. From a certain angle, he could see that some of the debris had been deliberately set aside and piled up to make a clear space among the crushed pieces. There were footprints in the dust, sharp and fresh.

"Is this stable at all?" he whispered to Pran.

"No idea. Don't touch anything." The defender looked up and around at the walls of the space. "Where are we?"

"I don't know. There was nothing about this on the map notes. It looks like some kind of old archeological site? These rocks were carved and then broken. They're smooth."

It was horribly dark, and Axoy wished he had thought to bring a torch. The warriors crouched down and carefully made their way through the tunnel. Vague shapes loomed up ahead of them and Pran quickly motioned at them to stop.

"Another rock pile. Can't get around it, and I can't see up ahead." Pran poked at the rubble with his sword and jumped back when it shifted. "This is going to be so loud."

"Whatever. You said they probably know we're here, right?" Axoy put his hands on the most stable part of the pile and lifted himself up. "Just stay alert. We'll be fine." His head brushed the top of the makeshift stone roof as he climbed over.

Pran and Soup went over first, then helped Natalie step down. Rocks crunched noisily under their feet. Axoy did his best to make only a necessary amount of noise, but they came crashing down around him as he regained his footing. Both defenders scowled at him and Soup gestured furiously for him to be quiet.

"Over here. What is this?" Natalie was looking at a slab of stone lying on the cold sand. "I can feel the carvings, but I can't see a damn thing."

"We'll come back with a torch later. Keep moving. We have to find the voices," Pran whispered. "It's not safe as long as they're around."

The floor was covered in rock fragments. No matter how quiet they tried to be, it was impossible to cover up the sounds completely. Pran turned around to say something, but Axoy couldn't hear him and moved on.

He was so loud that he nearly walked right into the four shamans standing at the base of a collapsed pillar, with drawn weapons.

 **COMMUNITY DECISION: Shout at the group instead of fighting or fleeing.**


	34. Finale: The Theory (Part 1)

It took a few minutes for him to realize what he was looking at. The light in the destroyed cavern went from dark to blinding white. Lightning crackled through the air and Axoy managed to duck and roll before it touched him. The afterimage burned pinkish silhouettes into his eyes, but he staggered to his feet and pointed his sword in the group's general direction.

"Who are you?" he shouted. "How did you get in here?"

There was a soft clunk as an intervene spell drifted over him. The ground rumbled and he barely had time to shield his face before a boulder crashed into him. His head collided with the stone wall behind him and blue stars spun wildly across his vision. Footsteps pounded across the sand as Natalie charged at the shamans, but more lightning simply tossed her away from them. One of them shouted something. Axoy tried to concentrate on the words through the ringing in his ears.

"…Are warriors truly as dense as these stones? If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it before you set foot in here!"

"Of course you would have!" Pran backed away towards the tunnel entrance. Red light flashed in his hand as he gathered energy for a seismic wave. "It is not in a shaman's nature to fight fairly."

A match hissed in the back of the cave. Torchlight shone across the scene and Axoy finally got a good look at the shamans. They were unmasked. _A thunderlord and three earthwardens_ , he thought. Three men and a woman holding the torch and a felflame blade.

"Don't!" He grabbed Pran's arm before he could cast the spell. "It's unstable."

"Very wise." One of the earthwardens pointed to the ceiling. "One false move and I will bring this down around you."

"Elivagar, stand down!" the thunderlord snapped. His voice was familiar and Axoy struggled to place it. Natalie slowly got to her feet and pointed at him.

"Zincamania," she said scathingly. "The outcast of Stormwind. I remember you. You tried to convince us to openly challenge the Regent. A suicide plan that would have wiped us all out… but that is all the shamans want, isn't it?"

"No," the female earthwarden began, but the thunderlord waved at her to be quiet.

"I offered the warriors an alliance with us. United, we would have a chance, but they refused. I do not want to see them exterminated any more than you yourself do, but the Regent is a threat to us all. The shamans stand divided, and Stormwind will fall into chaos if this continues. We are beyond her reach here. All I ask is that you listen to me now."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Axoy mumbled. The pain in his head pulsed and receded. "You're on Stormwind territory. The House of Light will kill you if they find you here."

"We do not intend to let ourselves be found," Elivagar muttered. "Just like the House of Light did to this place… and your friend."

The mention of Tiff's death sent fresh energy shooting through his limbs. "What do you know about her!" he shouted.

"She and the mage were murdered in Stormwind by the House of Light, and this site was destroyed afterwards. We found no blood or remains in the rubble that would suggest they died here." Zincamania picked up a piece of the stone and tossed it carelessly over to Axoy. "Look at this place. It was a threat to them, for whatever reason, and I am here with my friends to find out why."

"You won't find anything," Natalie snarled. "The Minister of the House will be here in two days. If you're still here, she'll kill you."

"I asked you to listen!" A bright whip of lightning lashed out from Zinc's hand and struck her sword hand. Natalie cried out, dropping her weapon and gripping her burned arm. "We can work together. This is not the time for old enemies to continue the fight."

"The House broke all of you years ago," Soup said. "The shamans will be nothing but a hindrance."

A vein in Elivagar's temple stood out and began to pulse.

"You have no idea what we can offer you!" said the earthwarden girl angrily. "We have risked our lives against the House and the Crown for decades. Of course, if you do not want our help, just say so. I will happily go back to killing you again."

"Wait," Axoy muttered. "Help with what?"

"I know that the warriors are rebelling, now that they feel they have nothing left to lose," Zincamania said quickly. "The House of Light may run the city but you believe you have the numbers and the power to force them to hear you. Your plan is doomed without our information."

"Who told you this?" Pran demanded. "Are you saying you would betray us to the House? Your people suffered more than any of us! I did not expect your loyalty to blind your pain."

"Do not speak to me about our suffering as though you understand!" Elivagar roared. "You know nothing about anything but yourself."

"We are not here for this!" Zinc shouted over both of them. "Listen to me. You will never defeat the House without destroying their greatest weapon: an item called the Emerald Heart. I know little about it, but it is how the shamans were first broken by the Red King. I cannot stand by and watch you suffer our same fate."

"The Emerald Heart?" Axoy frowned and tried to think. Something was stirring in his memory, but he couldn't pin it down. "It's familiar…"

"It is familiar to most. They hide it in plain sight," Zinc told him. "It is the oath that the Ministers of the House take when they are ordained. ' _I am the Light in the darkness, the Heart among cowards. No deed is too dark, nor any sacrifice too great when the Void threatens to swallow us all.'_ "

"Yes! That's it." Axoy frowned and shook his head. "But I don't know what you think we can do about it."

"The Nether itself will freeze over before I trust the word of a shaman," said Pran mutinously. "You are sending us to die."

Zinc gripped the hilt of his sword until his knuckles turned white. "I do not want to waste my time convincing your… friend."

"Wait," the woman said. "None of us have any love for the Queen Regent or the House of Light. Let them speak to-"

She and Zinc exchanged significant looks, but Zinc shook his head.

"Only if they are willing to accompany us back to camp, Lily. We cannot risk bringing her here."

"What?" Axoy asked. "Who?"

Lily chewed her lip. The other earthwarden put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

"We took in a refugee from Stormwind a few months ago," she said slowly. "In exchange for shelter, she told us why she fled. It seems that the Queen Regent, before she took the throne, had personally executed the maids who attended the deceased king for hearing information he spoke of in his fever. She was the only survivor."

"There were no survivors!" Soup lunged forward. Before Lily could react, his hands were around her throat. All of the shamans raised their weapons, but he held her in front of him as a shield. Lily gasped for air and clawed at his grip, dropping her sword and torch.

"What are you doing!" Axoy shouted. He reached for the defender, but Soup kicked him away.

"They're lying, Axoy! Twenty maids attended the king and twenty bodies were found in the dam at Crossfire. They were waterlogged and rotted, but they still wore the colors of Stormwind. I pulled them from the river myself with Pepper and Croft. It was the reason why the House shut down the site."

"What?" Axoy glared at the berserker. "You didn't tell me-"

Dark red energy gathered in the palm of Soup's hand. "Liars. Now you die."

Both groups readied their weapons. Axoy looked up at the ceiling and gauged the distance to the exit. They were closer to the tunnel mouth than the shamans. It would be a rush to get out before the room collapsed, but they would make it.

"They are not lying," said a soft voice in the corner.

Pran looked up and frowned. Soup seemed to freeze in shock. The spell in his hand blinked out and disappeared. Lily made a strangled noise, stretching out her hand towards the hooded girl.

Even wearing the fur and leather armor of a shaman, she was still a cryomancer, Axoy thought. She was pale, with ash-blonde hair and blue eyes. Frost glittered on the blades of her ruby thorn.

"The twentieth body you pulled from the dam was my sister, Aitriah," the girl said calmly. "I am Icelyn, the last survivor of the attendants of the King. I am the only one besides the Queen Regent herself who knows what the Emerald Heart is capable of, and I know how it can be destroyed."


	35. Finale: The Theory (Part 2)

**ONE MONTH EARLIER**

"Icelyn… hey. What's wrong?" Aitriah was standing over her, holding an empty tray. The palace gardens were cold and empty, lit only by a few lamps near the door. It was so late at night, and she was exhausted. Her shift replacement had been absent for a few days, and all she wanted to do was sleep.

"Aagh." Icelyn hobbled up to her feet, wincing as pain shot through her swollen ankle. "I don't know. I think I twisted it going up the stairs. It's been killing me for hours. I had to sit down."

"Oh. Well… the cook is looking for you. Lady Serena ordered more tea to be brought up to His Majesty's bedroom and they can't spare anyone else to carry it. She's been there for days."

"I know. She's there every time I go in," Icelyn muttered. She gripped the wall and started walking back to the steps that led up to the palace kitchen. "She never says anything or looks up. Just sits there, holding his hand, completely silent. It's creepy."

"I'm glad I don't have to do this," Aitriah said. "Where are the others? It didn't used to just be you fetching and carrying all the time."

"I don't know, and I don't have time to look." She flexed her foot and breathed deeply. "I'll be fine. Go back to whatever you're supposed to be doing."

"I was lighting the torches, but I'm already done for tonight. Let me take the tray up. You're hurting." Aitriah grabbed her hand and pulled Icelyn's arm around her shoulder. "Come on. I'll walk you to the kitchen and then you can rest there until I get back. It won't take long at all."

They made their way up the steps and Icelyn leaned gratefully on her sister. "I don't know what I'd do without you, some days."

"It's fine. I feel like I haven't seen you in forever though." Aitriah sounded very sad. "All we talked about last time was that creepy Emerald Heart that His Majesty was screaming about. I wish I could help you more, but I'm not even allowed to be near his rooms."

"I can't get that out of my head," Icelyn admitted. "I was so scared. I'm glad you weren't there though." They looked at the waiting tea tray sitting on the kitchen counter. Icelyn sighed and shrugged. "Put your hood up, and say you're me. We're both blonde, they won't notice. Do you know how to get to the room? I think I can at least point you in the right direction."

"Up the stairs, two lefts, and a right?" Aitriah asked. She picked up the heavy silver tray and put two steaming cups of tea on it. "I think-"

"No, it's two rights and a left. I'll walk with you until you get to the hall, okay?" Icelyn held on to Aitriah's elbow as they went up two flights of Palace steps and reached an ornately decorated hallway. "Come on. Two rights and a left, then there's a big gold door. You can't miss it. Don't talk to Lady Serena unless she talks to you first, and for the love of the gods, say that you're me."

"Of course." Aitriah disappeared down the first right hallway. Icelyn decided to trail her just in case. She hobbled around the corners, keeping her sister in sight. She passed by the branching hallways, right, right, left, Icelyn thought. Running footsteps suddenly echoed down the hall and Aitriah looked up at the boy, balancing the tray on her hip with one hand.

"Are you Icelyn? You brought His Majesty soup only a few hours ago, didn't you?" the servant demanded.

"Yes," Aitriah said quickly. "Yes, I did."

"Come with me. Lady Serena requested to speak to you."

 _What was going on?_ Icelyn ran towards them, but Aitriah was already disappearing through the door. The servant went down the hall and around a corner, leaving Icelyn alone. _Damn it._ She reached for the door handle just as Lady Serena spoke.

"What is your name, child?"

"My name… Icelyn, Lady Serena. I'm Icelyn. Am- am I in trouble?"

 _S***._ Icelyn couldn't go in now; it would expose both of them. She crouched down and put her ear to the door.

"Of course not. Come closer, Icelyn, I have a question for you. Answer truthfully and you will have nothing to fear."

"Yes, Lady Serena."

"Tell me, child, what do you know about the Emerald Heart?"

"Um, it might have been mentioned to me before."

"By him?"

"Yes, he spoke of it in his fever. Something about the House of Light as well. But he said many things. I took no notice of it."

"I see. Look into the firelight, dear."

And then there were the sounds. The awful grating as Serena's claws tore open flesh and bone. The wet splatter of blood and the hiss of the fire as it went out. A man shouting "No!" too late to save her.

Panic and horror raged back and forth in Icelyn's chest, so strong she could barely breathe. There was a terrible roaring in her ears. But Serena's voice still carried clearly though the door.

"Well? You heard the girl. The Emerald Heart is alive and well in the hands of the House. The Shamans were broken once. They can be broken again."

 _Aitriah…_

"I am losing my patience! You will confirm me as the Queen Regent, or I swear, you will wish you had."

She couldn't listen anymore. Icelyn scrambled away from the door and ran back the way she had come. Tears were running down her face, but she barely noticed.

Her sister was dead, and she was alone.


	36. Fall Apart

The dungeon cell was too dark for Lucy to gauge the passage of time. She woke and slept at intervals, and she ate and drank when a servant brought food and water to her, but she couldn't tell how long she had been there. Part of Lucy's mind wondered if Serena had meant to disorient her to soften her up somehow, but the other part of her didn't listen. She was too tired.

There wasn't much to look at while she was awake. The cell was tiny and cold, with a simple straw bed and a stone table. Lucy wasn't chained or bound in any way, but there was no reason for her to be. The little space she had was too small to do anything but pace, sit, and sleep. The stone walls were perfectly smooth, and there wasn't a single window to the outside. The only light was from a lamp set too high for her to reach.

The lock on the door suddenly clicked. She blinked out of her daze and was almost blinded by torchlight. A House acolyte, armed with a void edge, set the torch in a sconce and grabbed her arm.

"Walk ahead of me. Do not try to fight."

Lucy nodded wearily and let herself be led out of the cell and down a narrow hallway. She was too tired to even consider fighting, and she had no weapon.

 _You were to be left alive, and brought to her for questioning in your involvement with the disappearance of two Doriven mages who were possibly possessing sensitive information. Only if you are found guilty of sharing these secrets will you be executed._

They had known about Echo and Sport. Lucy silently cursed herself for thinking they could leave the city unseen, and for trusting Fontn's idiotic escape route. At the very least, Serena was still trying to figure out the connection between her and the mages. She did not have all the pieces, and Lucy didn't intend to give her any.

The acolyte marched her into a circular room, the same one that she had woken up in after Jaka attacked her. The chair was still sitting in the center, and he shoved her into the seat and strapped down her wrists and ankles. Lucy took a deep breath and tried to sort out her thoughts. She would not give away anything about the Tomb from Neolithic, and she could not say anything about what had happened with Fontn's plan. Serena had known everything about it already.

Boot heels clicked on the stone floor. Lucy winced inwardly and tried not to let any expression show on her face. It was Serena.

"Thank you, Tyferno. Dismissed."

The door slammed behind the acolyte as he left, leaving Lucy and Serena alone together.

"So, here we are again." Serena grabbed a fistful of Lucy's blonde hair and pulled her head up, peering into her face. "Yes, it's you, alright... My baby sister, home at last. No welcome party for you this time, I'm afraid. Just me and you having a little chat. And then if you're lucky, you get the hell out of Stormwind and never cross my path again."

Lucy didn't trust herself to speak. She nodded as best as she could, with Serena still pulling her hair.

"Cat got your tongue? I guess that'll do for now, but you had better be talking when I start asking the real questions," Serena muttered. She let go of Lucy's hair. There was a slight click and her gown rustled as she slipped on her finger claws. "From what I heard, you didn't put up much of a fight when Jaka brought you in. Although, knowing you, I'm sure you didn't put up much of a fight when he did other things…"

It took all of Lucy's self control to not lash out at her sister, but she knew that was what Serena wanted. She gripped the arms of her chair and stared at a point on the floor.

Serena laughed and stepped out of her view. "How lonely were you, locked away in the College all these years? Fontn isn't exactly what I'd call good company. Don't tell me you slept with him too, or I'll vomit."

"Of course not," Lucy snapped.

Serena's footsteps stopped clicking around. "Finally, you start talking. I was about to resort to cutting your mouth open. Maybe I will. You never were the pretty one. It might be an improvement to that pitiful face of yours."

"What do you want?" Serena's careless tone sent chills down Lucy's spine. Her sister might have promised to let her live, but she certainly wasn't going to leave the dungeon unharmed.

"Just to talk. For now, anyway." There was a scraping sound as Serena pulled up another chair and sat down in front of her, arranging the skirt of her silver gown daintily around her laced boots. "I suppose I've asked you enough about yourself. Anything you have for me? We've got years of catching up to do, after all."

Hopelessness washed over Lucy. She didn't meet Serena's expectant eyes as she tried to figure out her options. If she could somehow derail her sister's attention, maybe she could buy herself a little more time to figure out an escape.

"What happened to us?" she finally blurted out. A pounding headache was starting to grow in her temples, but she tried to push the pain away to concentrate. "You were the one who had everything. You always were. All I wanted was to be happy."

Serena was silent for a long moment, and then began to laugh. It was a high hysterical piercing sound, and Lucy wanted nothing more than for it to stop.

"All you wanted was to be happy? Oh sweetheart. How long has it been, twenty years? Twenty-five? Twenty-five years since we last saw each other and you're as naïve as if you were born yesterday. I had only one thing, and that was my duty to our family and to the House of Light. I was _happy_ for you when you were named Daughter! I thought to myself, _oh finally, she's come to her senses, now maybe she'll stop sleeping with every man in Stormwind and start being the leader I know she is_! And you couldn't even do that! Don't f***ing say a damn thing. I know what you did! How do you think it felt for me, hearing the rumors, seeing the looks they gave you, knowing they would never respect either of us as long as you ran the House?"

"And that's why you banned me from the palace when our brother was dying?" Fury and grief made Lucy's voice shaky and she tried to calm herself. "Is that why you wouldn't even let me come to the funeral? You were worried about how I'd reflect on you?!"

Tears spilled down Serena's face, making dark spots on the silver silk of her gown. Her breath came in angry sobs and there was a loud clang of metal on stone as she slammed her clenched fist into the dungeon wall. "I watched you drag our family's reputation through the dirt, and I watched you threaten the future and safety of the House until I couldn't watch any longer. The only thing that changed was when I realized you weren't worth saving anymore. Is that a good enough answer for you?"

"So your solution to that is to hunt me down!" Lucy yelled. "You didn't save any of us when you threw me out of the House. It was never about who I was with! You were nothing but a jealous hypocrite. I know you wear the Heart around your neck in that pendant just like I did. I was finished with trying to hide it from the world, and you were looking for an excuse to get rid of me."

"Oh please." Serena scowled in disgust and stood up from her chair, running the back of her free hand across her eyes. "Of course I had to have you silenced. Do you think the warriors or mages would have just agreed to peacefully coexist with us if the knowledge of the Heart became public?" More angry footsteps clicked back and forth behind Lucy as she paced back and forth. "I freely admit that I did what I did for myself as well as the House. You were a liability to me, and now look at where I am. Queen Regent over Stormwind, Doriven and Arathi. Interesting how far I can go without you in the picture."

 _The Regency? She's really going to bring that up?_ Lucy almost laughed in her sister's livid face. "Do you think I don't know how you got that crown? I was the other candidate for Regent, and we both know I would have been confirmed instead. It must be so easy for you, having the throne handed over without a fight. What did you say to the chieftain when he came to Stormwind? Did you tell him I was dead?"

"It was very simple, actually." Serena sat down across from Lucy again and smiled coldly. "I murdered the last of the palace maids in front of him and said that the Heart would taste shaman blood again if he did not confirm me. Having my whore of a sister out of the way was quite helpful though." She picked at a speck of reddish rust on her claw blades. "Luc's weakness is the fate of his people. Threaten that, and he will do anything."

"Certainly reflects on your leadership," Lucy muttered.

"What about my leadership?"

"Don't you realize what's happening? Stormwind is on the verge of collapse. The warriors have been without work for over a month and a half. Without a shard source, the shamans will consider their arrangement with the Crown broken. How much longer do you think they'll let you sit on your throne, doing nothing to help them?" Lucy shook her head, smiling at her sister's look of incoherent rage. "Today it's just riots in the marketplace, some acolytes dunked in the canal, and a few broken statues. Tomorrow, the palace will burn. You always were good at making enemies, Serena."

"They wouldn't dare," Serena managed to sputter. "Most of them will be shipped off to the mine at Neolithic soon enough. The ones who don't shut up will be executed tomorrow morning for treason. It's all under control. They'll see who the real Queen is-"

"But the real Queen isn't you, is it? It's Kara. Face it, Serena, the minute that girl turns 9, you'll be nothing."

The mention of the Princess' name drained the color from Serena's face instantly. Lucy began to laugh. That was it. Her sister's greatest fear was losing control, and the true heir would simply cast her aside like a scrap of paper in the wind.

"One might say you weren't meant to wear that crown at all… or any crown for that matter-"

Serena looked into her sister's eyes, and for a split second, Lucy realized that she had gone too far.

Her hand moved in a blur of silver, and the strike drove the air out of Lucy's lungs. She gasped for breath as Serena withdrew her claws. Blood spurted from the wounds, drenching Serena's gown.

Cold heaviness moved up her limbs. Lucy tried to speak, but no words came out. More blood bubbled up in her throat when she tried to breathe.

"My poor, sweet, stupid baby sister," Serena whispered. "You have no idea."

 **(3) AVOIDABLE CHARACTER DEATHS**


	37. Stand Together

"What are you doing here?!" Lily gasped. She wrenched herself out of Soup's chokehold and ran to the little mage, pulling her close. "I told you to stay at the campsite!"

"I got lonely," Icelyn said stubbornly. "It was hot and boring in the tent. And you would all be fighting each other again if I hadn't followed you."

Mag and Lily exchanged helpless looks and Lily shrugged.

"She is our best proof. Our only proof. I cannot make you believe us, but Mag and I risked our lives to keep her safe." Lily picked up her sword again and set the fallen torch in a small pile of stones. "I found her outside of the camp when I was on watch duty. She had nothing but her ruby thorn and the clothes on her back. Her boots were worn through. She was delirious from hunger and cold. It is not the way of shamans to allow outsiders to live, but I could not bring myself to kill her."

Natalie had opened her mouth to say something, but she closed it quickly. Soup's eye flickered back and forth from Icelyn to Lily.

Pran sighed and lowered his sword. "Let's say we believe you-"

"I heard my sister die!" Icelyn suddenly shouted. "I cannot lie about this! If there truly were twenty dead maids in Crossfire, then the Regent murdered us because we knew about the existence of the Emerald Heart… and it was my fault that Aitriah died…" She sank to her knees, sobbing hysterically. Lily stroked her hair and glared at the warriors.

"I told her about what had been said when I swore to keep it secret," Icelyn choked out. "All of us promised to never speak of what happened in the royal chambers while His Majesty was dying. But I couldn't keep it from Aitriah. We hadn't seen each other in so long… and I was terrified."

"Hang on," Axoy mumbled. The ache in the back of his skull was finally starting to recede, but it still felt like his brain was made of cotton wool. "Start from the beginning. Where did you work in the Palace?"

"Kitchens," Icelyn gasped. "I wasn't a cook. Just fetched and carried for the others, and brought food to His Majesty's room. It was mostly clear soups and hot drinks; the kinds of things you could eat even if you had no appetite. I knew he was dying before Lady Serena said anything."

"Are you saying he was sick?" Natalie slowly got to her feet, holding out her hands so that the shamans could see she was not a threat. "An aquamancer should have been able to save him."

"It was not a sickness of the flesh. I cannot describe it. He was in perfect health at the time… and still he faded away as if he had simply given up on life itself. No aquamancer is skilled enough to heal a broken soul."

Her words raised more questions than answers in Axoy's mind. "Go on."

"We were ordered to stay with him at night. Lady Serena's greatest fear was that he would die alone, but she could not stay with him because of her duties to the House of Light. He slept very little, and when he did, it was restless and disturbed. A fever developed a week later. I know he was not in his right mind, but he began to speak in his delirium." Icelyn pulled away from Lily's gentle hands and got to her feet, leaning on her ruby thorn for support. "He would call us Lucy or Serena- his sisters, as you know. At first, it seemed like he was only reliving his childhood with them. We thought he was happy… so we didn't say anything about it to Lady Serena."

"Is that how you found out about the Heart?" Zinc asked.

"Yes, but at the time, I didn't know. One night he was screaming at Lucy, or whoever he thought was Lucy, and he began repeating the same words, over and over. ' _Put it back, it's not safe. You will answer to the gods if it is destroyed._ ' We were terrified. I didn't know what to do until DarkAngel showed up and helped us restrain him. She called for Lady Serena, but she was busy and told us that we needed to keep him quiet." Icelyn wiped her face with her sleeve, but a teardrop slipped onto her weapon and froze solid.

"I held his hands at his sides and tried to reassure him. DarkAngel had mixed sleep medicine into his tea, but he refused to drink. He was shouting all sorts of dreadful things; I think they were meant for Lucy. I won't repeat them here, but I cannot forget them."

"What did he say about the Heart though?"

"He said ' _How dare you wear our Heart for everyone to see, you whore?_ ' At the time I thought he was simply being rude, but he kept talking about this Heart as if it were something real and very dangerous. What I understood was that Lucy had removed it from somewhere safe, and was either speaking openly about it, or wearing an actual physical item around her neck." Icelyn rubbed her eyes and sighed. "And the last thing he said… ' _The dead will never obey someone like you. You may be the rightful holder of the Heart, but you will call into the Light and they will not answer._ '"

Axoy blinked in confusion. "The dead?"

"Yes." Icelyn put her fingers to her temples and sighed again. "The dead. All I could assume was that the Heart gives its holder some form of control over them."

"This is insane," said Soup angrily. "If the House did possess something that could resurrect a dead human, they would not need the acolytes or any other living servant. You must have misheard."

"It is what he said. I heard him clearly. Perhaps I did not understand the words, but I am certain that the Emerald Heart is a weapon that allows its living holder to summon the dead."

"Wait," Pran said slowly. "Icelyn, how did you escape the Palace with this kind of information?"

"I hurt my ankle on the stairs going up from the kitchens." Her voice was getting shakier with every word. "Aitriah found me… offered to carry the tray that I was supposed to bring. We weren't supposed to share duties. I told her to say that she was me if anyone asked. Followed her up. One of the footmen met her in the hall. Dragged her into His Majesty's room and left. He didn't see me. I went to listen in and… and…" Icelyn dropped her ruby thorn and began to breathe into her cupped hands.

"Lady Serena was there. Asked if she knew anything about the Emerald Heart. I'd already told Aitriah about it. She said yes. And then she killed her. I… h-heard it."

Her eyes were glassy and fixed. Every bit of color had drained from her skin.

"That's enough!" Lily snapped. She wrapped an arm around Icelyn's shoulders and picked up her fallen staff. "Mag, help me get her back to camp. This is too much."

The two earthwardens began leading the trembling mage away. Lily shot a final angry glare at Soup and Axoy as they left.

"Luc was present when Serena murdered the sister. I would assume she used it to intimidate him into granting her the Regency," Zinc said. "Icelyn trailed him to Attherough when he left the Palace. She did not have a horse, and it took her much longer to reach the valley. But she made it to the outskirts, and was found by Lily and Mag."

"Oh gods." Pran looked horrified. "I didn't mean to-"

"She will recover. But what you need to know is that the Emerald Heart is a grave risk to all of us, and this place inside the chasm was of great significance to the House of Light. Enough for them to conceal two murders and destroy this section." Zinc pointed to the broken stones that covered the ground. "I pieced together some of the carvings… and there was a sunken grave with shards of bone and some artifacts. So far I am not sure what any of it means, but hopefully the answer is still under the ruins somewhere."

"We can leave Tiff's death for later," Axoy said quickly. "What exactly were you planning on doing about the Emerald Heart?"

"The part of Icelyn's story that gave me this idea was how worried His Majesty was about the Heart being physically vulnerable while Lucy wore it openly on the pendant," Zinc said. "But here is the chance that we have: Serena wears it in the same way. I was there when she took her oaths to become the Daughter of the House. It is a large gold locket on a short chain. I have never seen her without it."

"I've seen that on Serena too," Natalie said. She looked stunned. "I… Some of my workers vandalized a statue of her in the Palace courtyard, about six weeks ago. Took off the head, then blindfolded the eyes and left it at the door to her room while the Queensguard were asleep. She made this long f***ing speech about treason in the morning, and she was practically still in her pajamas. I was wondering why she'd forget to put on a dress, but she'd still have jewelry on."

"Exactly. But for all its power, it is not immune to being damaged or broken." Zinc hesitated, looking at Elivagar and the warriors. "It... may be possible for a lone intruder to enter the Palace and shatter it."

"A lone…" Axoy felt as if the ground had been pulled out from underneath him. "You didn't come here to help us. You want our help with your plan."

Zinc sighed and cast a frustrated glare over the four warriors. "I did not ask for your participation. I am offering you a way to help us break the Regent's hold on the warriors of Stormwind and free all three cities from the influence of the House of Light… if you are brave enough to risk it. If not, walk away. We will be gone by the time the Minister arrives, and you can return to the mines."

"Wait," Natalie said weakly. "You're really trying to help us?"

"This is what I tried to tell you and the others in Stormwind," Zinc said. "Our causes are the same. The House has brought nothing but suffering to all of us. I am sure they will be more amenable to discussion if their greatest-kept secret is discovered and destroyed."

Axoy weighed his options again, looking at the others. On one hand, it could be an elaborate trap. Shamans never offered help or advice unless there was something in it for them as well. It didn't take any stretch of the imagination to know that as soon as the crown came off of Serena's head, it would be in Luc's hands.

But they had no reason to lie, and every reason to seek revenge against the House of Light. If Zinc was right about Tiff's death being a cover-up by the House, and if Icelyn's knowledge of the Heart was accurate, it wouldn't be long until the warriors went the same way as the shaman tribes. He couldn't let it happen. Wordless understanding passed between all four warriors.

"Fine. We'll help you."

 **COMMUNITY DECISION: Send Axoy alone to Stormwind. Using Zinc's knowledge of the Palace layout, he will attempt to destroy the Emerald Heart while she is asleep.**


	38. Voices Among Us

The sound of a horn cut through the clear morning air. Stormwind was barely awake, but a crowd began to trickle out of their homes towards the center of the city. Warriors, mages, and paladin acolytes gathered in silence around the dais in front of the Palace. Armed guards kept the more curious onlookers away from the platform. Parents hushed their children and looked around at the other grim, resolute faces.

They knew what was about to happen, but ignoring the summons was almost a death sentence.

The Palace doors opened slowly. Queen Regent Serena, flanked by her Queensguard and the Ministers of the House of Light, descended the stone steps. A wave of murmurs swept over the crowd and was hushed as quickly as it had come. She approached the dais where two hooded and bound figures knelt in front of the crowd. Dried blood stained their clothes. Neither of them struggled.

"Citizens of Stormwind!" Serena shouted. Her voice echoed across the full courtyard. "I have come before you in one of the darkest times that we have ever faced. You have seen the devastation wrought throughout the city for weeks now. Your homes and your livelihoods have suffered for their clumsy attempts at treason. This handful of dissenting warriors, who would rather endanger all of you than work to ensure the glory of Stormwind, cannot be allowed to intimidate us."

She beckoned to a tall man in a black cloak, standing among the guards to her right. His face was hidden, but everyone could see the glittering blade in his hands. As he stepped up to the platform, the crowd's whispering grew louder but the man didn't pause. He reached for the prisoners' hoods, undid the knots, and quickly pulled them off to reveal their faces.

"No!"

A single scream rang out. Every head turned. The guards converged on the lone female warrior sprinting towards the platform. Red and purple light blazed up as her spells threw them aside. She reached for the pair and tried to drag them down to safety.

All four Queensguard lunged at her. A ground slam brought the warrior to her knees and the crowd scrambled to get away. Before she could cast another spell, steel flashed in the sunlight, tinted crimson by a sudden spray of blood. She collapsed in front of the hostages. The four grabbed her and the others by the back of their armor, dragged them back up onto the dais, and dumped her unceremoniously next to the other two. Gasps of horror and low curses broke out among the crowd.

"It seems that we have a volunteer to join these traitors in their journey to the afterlife." Serena gestured at the three before her. "You can all see their faces. You know who they are. Perhaps they were your friends or family. Now they are revealed as your only true enemy."

"Murderer!" someone shouted out. Serena didn't even flinch.

"A report was brought to my Minister of Justice detailing a plan to burn down a section of the acolyte's quarters near the House of Light," the Regent continued. "Following an anonymous tip, we traced the origins of the plot to a network of warriors plotting to overthrow me. We have reason to believe that these warriors are responsible for the chaos that has plagued this city for over a month now."

The wounded girl groaned slightly and coughed. She seemed unable to sit up. Blood ran down her chin and dripped into the cracks between the cobblestones.

"We tracked this warrior, Saphyris, to his home." Serena nudged the bound man with her foot, pushing him onto his side. "After capturing him and searching the residence, we found quantities of oil and various other accelerants, as well as evidence that there was a second participant. Under torture, he betrayed the name of his accomplice."

The second warrior's eyes darted around the crowd. There were a few scattered sympathetic noises, but no one moved.

"DragonEngineer. He possessed a crude map of the acolyte's housing as well as certain points marked where accelerant would be planted." Serena pushed him over as well. "A foolish plan, laid by clumsy hands. As the Daughter of the House of Light, and the Queen Regent of Stormwind, there is nothing that can remain hidden from me for long. To the remaining conspirators, I offer only one message. This is the fate of those who threaten their rightful leaders."

The cloaked man strode up and raised his sword. Screams echoed around the courtyard. Somewhere, a baby began to cry. Parents shielded their children's eyes from the sight.

"Saphyris and DragonEngineer, you have been found guilty of treason against the Crown. Under the laws of Stormwind, your lives are forfeit. To the girl who attempted to interfere with the execution, you will join them in death." The executioner's voice was muffled under his hood, but it was menacing nonetheless.

"May the Light have mercy on your souls," the Regent whispered.

The blade came down with a terrible thud. All three heads rolled off of the dais and fell to the ground below. Blood drenched the front rows of onlookers, who staggered back with shrieks of horror, shoving blindly at the other spectators to escape. A few people standing at the edges of the crowd turned and fled.

"May this be a lesson, and a warning, to all of you," Serena said. "Starting in three days, the House of Light is authorized to search all suspicious persons and their homes without warning. No one will be spared. The safety of Stormwind must take precedence over the rights of its people. I advise you all to remain calm and avoid obstructing the investigations. You have nothing to fear… if you have nothing to hide."

 **NO COMMUNITY DECISION**


	39. The Storm on the Horizon

It was a cloudy day over Stormwind, with a faint touch of autumn chill. The light breeze rustled dry leaves over the dusty ground, and piled them up around Beymuch's boots while he stood outside the remains of the defunct mine. Serena had suffered through a week of progressively louder explosions with no explanation from the College whatsoever before sending him to shake an answer out of someone by force if necessary. He had planned on making the trip short and painless, without much fuss from anyone, and he had expected to be back at the House by the afternoon.

Instead, he was stuck outside arguing with a very stubborn pyromancer girl outside of the defunct mine, who was absolutely refusing to let him pass.

"Um, I'm not authorized to talk about this… I think you need to go speak to-"

Beymuch gritted his teeth and glared at the mage. "There is no need for me to discuss this with your superiors if the doings here are as innocent as you claim. I am primarily concerned with the fact that Q_T did not authorize this site to be reused after it was overrun by the creatures. If you will allow me to examine the area and ensure that there is no possibility of a threat to the city, I will not need to return. That is all."

"Well, I can tell you now that there's definitely no threat to the city. In fact, we haven't even seen any creatures around here, so, uh, you can just take the report back to the House of Light and-"

"I said I need to examine the area." The flames on Beymuch's armblade flickered dangerously. "If you would be so kind as to stay out of my way while I do so, that would be much appreciated."

"You can't just walk in here, I have orders that any non-College- hey!"

Beymuch was done arguing. He brushed past the mage and started making his way towards the marked area. "Clearly the gravity of this situation has escaped you. This is the third time I have come here and I am finished with being turned away. It is a routine inspection that must be done, with or without your cooperation-"

A hand suddenly dropped onto his arm, stopping him in his tracks. Beymuch tried to pull away, but the grip was unshakeable. He let out a sigh of annoyance and looked up. It was a younger girl with long blonde hair and a plain, unremarkable face. There was something familiar about her, but Beymuch ignored it.

"I will take it from here. Return to the site and tell Fontn that the Minister of Security from the House of Light has arrived." She nodded at the other pyromancer, who turned and walked away without a word.

"And who are you?" Beymuch grumbled. "I warn you, I am at the end of my patience with whoever runs this site."

" _Look at me_."

The girl's eyes were a bizarre shade of bright purple. Beymuch could feel his thoughts getting strangely muddled. An uneasy feeling nudged at the back of his brain, but he pushed it away and tried to focus. "I… I am here on official-"

" _I know why you have come. You will not find what you are looking for_."

"Well, you see, I'm not really looking for anything, I just need to make sure-"

" _There is nothing to inspect here. Everything is perfectly in order_."

"Alright, but I'd still like to talk to… uh…"

The ground seemed to tilt under his feet. The sunlight took on a mild purple tint, coloring and blurring everything in sight. Nothing felt real. The only things he could see clearly were the girl's eyes, glittering like violet stars.

" _You will return to the House of Light. You will speak of nothing you saw here. You will not remember me, and you will not remember what I have said to you_." Her voice was quiet but crystal clear, as if the words were coming from within his mind.

"Yes," Beymuch said faintly. "Yes, of course."

" _Go_. _Now_."

And for the third time, Beymuch found himself turning around and leaving the site, feeling as if he had walked face-first into a brick wall.

He did not see the girl suddenly double over and collapse on the ground, shaking violently.

"Naebula!" Theo rushed to its side and pulled it to its feet. The slight form was surprisingly heavy. Its skin burned like a fever. "Oh gods, are you okay?"

The void monster's eyes opened slowly and shot her a withering glare. " _Yes. I am perfectly fine, and I am simply falling down for no reason._ "

"I was worried about you! Don't be such a bitch." Theo slung its arm around her shoulders and helped it walk back to the field tent. "Why are you like this?"

" _Sarcasm is one of the few redeeming qualities of your kind. Do not deny me this one enjoyment._ "

"Do you need to lie down? Uh… I guess you won't want any water or anything…" Theo helped it sit down on a cushioned seat and looked around uncertainly. "I might be able to get you more, um, blood if you need it."

" _I am unable to eat or drink anything in this form_." Naebula's skin rippled oddly and seemed to blur for a moment. " _It would be infinitely easier to do as you requested if you would remove this._ " It plucked resentfully at the silver chain.

Theo scowled and rolled her eyes. "You know, after all this time, I was hoping you'd stop trying to kill me."

" _And after all this time, I was hoping that you would trust me_." Naebula put its hand over its mouth and delicately patted a yawn. It was a purely sarcastic gesture, since the monster didn't need to breathe. " _I will tell you that only one of us is mistaken._ "

"Whatever," Theo muttered. "Look, how many more times do you think you can keep him away?"

" _It gets more difficult every time. That was… the worst it has ever been. I believe there is some part of him that knows he is being manipulated, but he is too weak to truly resist. It is only a matter of time before he begins to see through what I am doing_ … _At most, I can continue the deception for a week. If he brings multiple acolytes from the House to accompany him, I do not think I will be able to turn them away at all._ "

"Can't you just tell him not to come back?"

" _I have tried that. Apparently such a direct command does not work. Are your peers close to finishing the process_?"

"Yes. We need to make sure that the blast byproducts aren't toxic in the long term, but we'll be able to test that on rats inside Stormwind." Theo rubbed her arms and looked up at the sky. "It's getting colder out here every day. I guess you need to stay warm somehow…"

" _Physically, I am fine. But this chain limits me severely._ " Its shoulders distorted around the silver necklace, becoming black and vaporous for a brief second. " _If you were to remove it, I would be able to do much more… At most, I could buy you a month of time against the Daughter, all of the Ministers of the House, and every acolyte they have._ "

"Because you'd kill them all. I already know." Theo grabbed one of the binders off the nearby shelf and flipped through it until she found the timetable. "Uh, all the teams allocated about 3 more days of work. Can you hold up?"

Naebula rolled its eyes so aggressively that the purple irises disappeared towards the back of its skull. " _I have said many times that I owe you a debt. I know you have had unsavory dealings with us in the past, but we are not savages_."

"Yeah, you'll forgive me if I don't take your word for that," Theo mumbled. She put the binder back, found a small end of bread left over from lunch, and stuffed a piece into her mouth. "I'm looking out for everyone within a one-mile radius when I say that thing's not coming off you until the Nether freezes over."

" _I can assure you that there will come a time when you will need my powers at their full unleashed strength_ ," said Naebula lazily. It slipped off the chair and carefully got to its feet. " _I have said it before, and I will say it again. There is more than one monster to be feared here_."

"And I'm dealing with the easier of the lot that I know I can control," Theo shot back. "You went after me two seconds after I summoned you. It's been a damn week. I'm tired and I need a nap. That asshole from the House is a real goddamn pain to deal with."

" _You have no idea how it feels from this end_ ," the monster remarked irritably. The human form shivered and vanished. Theo had seen it before, but it was still hard not to cringe away from the weird smoky form with hints of visible bone and gold at the joints and face. " _I need a moment to recover, if you are not going to remove the chain. It takes quite a bit of effort to blend in._ "

The tent flap suddenly unsnapped and flew open. Tomol and Fontn walked in with an armful of papers.

"… and as I was saying about the process, we took a sample of the fumes and they had no adverse effects on the leaves' function. There is still some work that has to be done with the water samples to make sure that we don't accidentally pollute the canals or the groundwater that feeds-"

His voice trailed off in a faint gasp. Fontn dropped his papers with a loud thump and reached for his walking stick. Theo's heart plummeted to her toes. Both were looking in stunned horror at the unmasked void monster, who was standing behind Theo with one hand on its hip.

" _Well that was poorly timed,_ " it said lightly.

"Theo…" Fontn croaked out. "You have ten seconds to tell me what the hell is going on here."

 **COMMUNITY DECISION: Say "Don't worry. It's been helping us."**


	40. The Darkness in the Light

If there was one thing Serena particularly hated about being the Regent, it was having to meet with the Ministers of the House about their respective concerns. It was inevitably boring, repetitive, and always ended with Serena wishing there was a way to kill all of them by accident.

Aria, Alanyxe, Kakapos, and Backstein stood in front of the semicircle of six chairs around Serena's throne. She deposited a black drawstring bag next to her throne and sat down, motioning to the other four to sit as well. Her guards stood silently behind her.

Two of the seats were empty. Beymuch was attempting to get through the incredibly tight-lipped mages surrounding the defunct mining site, and Q_T was preparing to make her own survey trip to the mine at Neolithic. Serena knew she would not return for at least a week, but a functioning mine was worth more than a brief meeting, and Q_T hated them just as much as Serena did.

Aria cleared her throat and bowed quickly in the Regent's general direction. She seemed distracted, and Serena hoped it meant she wouldn't talk long.

"I would like to present my information, if you will hear me, Your Majesty."

"Go ahead." Serena's heart sank when she saw the enormous stack of papers in Aria's hand. It would be a while.

"These are the reports from Tiiger at Arathi. Several of her acolytes have observed a woman entering the city matching the description of Lucy Rose, ex-Daughter of the House, now fugitive from the Crown of Stormwind. She was accompanied by an unknown warrior when she passed through the gates, but neither of them have been seen for several days now."

Serena resisted the urge to claw Aria's tongue out of her mouth. "I hope you know that none of this is news to me."

"I know that you have been trying to extract your sister from the College of Stormwind using the Queensguard. Clearly he has failed," said the Minister primly.

Her head began to pound in annoyance. "If you were able to decipher the characters on the report I sent you-"

"Yes, I can read, Your Majesty," Aria muttered.

"Really? There were several months where you had me very worried," Serena muttered. "I do not have time for your ineptitude."

"But I know that Fontn has been hiding her-"

"Fontn is a senile old fool!" Serena roared. "Do not question me! I know what I did in sending the Queensguard after my sister. She is not the problem here, for once in her damned life."

All of the Ministers shrank back.

"I did not mean to sound as if I doubted you," Aria stammered. "I am only considering possibilities-"

"You can begin by considering the possibilities that are not a waste of our time. I know that the two mages from the Neolithic survey team are still being hunted in Arathi. The head mage there is being very uncooperative, but I have no doubt that she will crack under pressure eventually." Serena tried to calm herself by turning another page of the report and skimming over the long paragraphs. "I am aware that they met with my sister at the College of Stormwind and fled shortly afterwards. She managed to warn them somehow about the deaths of the other two. The issue at hand is that the more time we spend focused on Arathi, the greater the unrest grows in Stormwind."

"The executions seem to have put a damper on the chaos," Alanyxe pointed out. "If they continue, we will make another example of them. Your Majesty, if I may suggest retrieving the extra acolytes from Arathi, we can restore order to the city much faster."

"With all due respect," Kakapos added, "I think you are overestimating the escaped two in Arathi. They have no means, no allies, and no proof of anything that they might have heard."

"Hmm." Serena considered his words. In the worst case scenario, the mages might be able to bring word about the Heart to the shaman tribes. They would still be unlikely to act, considering their past experiences with the House, plus they lacked the numbers to pose much of a threat. The warriors in Arathi had little to no interaction with the mages, nor did they have much sympathy for the plight of the shamans.

"Perhaps you are right," she muttered. "I will issue an order to recall Tiiger and half of the acolytes from Arathi. The search will continue, but Alanyxe will have her reinforcements. We are still stretched too thin for my comfort. When Beymuch returns from questioning the mages outside of the city, I will ask him to double the guards on the walls and gate. No one leaves or enters without someone's knowledge."

"When Q_T returns from the mine survey, she can assist me with the warrior issues," Alanyxe began.

"Q_T will be occupied in moving the mining teams to Neolithic. We cannot count on her participation for another three weeks, at least." Serena categorized her options again and looked around the room. "Kakapos, in your opinion, are the heirs in any danger?"

He shrugged and shook his head. "Their enmity towards each other seems to be the greatest threat, Your Majesty. Keeping them separate has resolved the problem, but I am still wary."

"Fine. I will station two of the Queensguard to remain in sight of them at all times. I only need two myself. The Bloodline must stay safe. Aria, I know you have lost Zinc as a contact with the shamans, but do you have any information at all on their activity?"

Aria set aside half of her pages and shuffled through the remaining ones. "A few week-old reports out of Arathi of brief chaos in Thornhill. Some of the old extremist movement still resides there, separate from the rest of the tribe. Clashes like that are to be expected occasionally."

"Are you certain this was nothing out of the ordinary?"

"There is no way to be certain without speaking directly to them, and the extremists are not known for their rationality. We cannot have a repeat of the regicide that happened with the last Queen who attempted to make contact with the shamans."

"I know. They are already weakened by the loss of our trade agreement." Serena tapped her claws on the arm of her throne. "If the Thornhill situation escalates, I need to know. But as long as Attherough and the majority remain peaceful, I will not consider the shamans a threat."

Aria nodded and tied up her bundle of papers again.

"We need to return to the main issue," Backstein insisted. "The Emerald Heart is our only hold on the shamans. Without the trade agreement, they will soon realize they have nothing left to lose. You have put them in a very dangerous position against us, Your Majesty."

His tone was starting to grate on Serena's nerves. "I have already said they are not a threat to the city."

"I am referring to the Heart. It is our last resort in any event, and your sister's contact with mages who are aware of the Tomb has put all of us at risk!"

Serena dug her claws into the woodwork to suppress the temptation to stab the Minister in the face. "How many times are you going to make me repeat myself?"

"All he is saying is that we must consider the possibility of Lucy's knowledge being used against us," Alanyxe said hesitantly. "It has always been a risk, but now more so than ever."

Serena rested her head in her hands and took several deep breaths until her temples stopped pounding. "I would like the attention of everyone who believes my sister is a threat to the safety of the House."

Silence fell over the room and all eyes turned towards her.

"Thank you. Please consider the following piece of evidence."

Serena picked up the black bag next to her throne, undid the drawstring top, and tossed the contents towards the center of the hall.

Alanyxe's jaw fell open in shock. Backstein covered his mouth with his hands and shrank back, while Kakapos merely raised an eyebrow and looked away. Aria let out a little sigh and fainted in her seat.

The severed head of Lucy Rose lay quietly where it had fallen on the gilded mosaic tiles.

"I think we can now all agree," Serena said patiently, "that my sister and her knowledge of the Heart are not issues that concern us."

No one said a word.

"This meeting is adjourned."

 **NO COMMUNITY DECISION**


	41. Control

"Don't worry. It's been helping us."

"It's been… what… I- what is that thing?!" Fontn sputtered. The end of his staff began to glow weakly.

" _Just a visitor_." Naebula shrugged its shoulders and sat back down on the chair. " _I intend no harm to any of you._ "

"How-"

"I ordered it to keep that Minister from the House of Light away from the testing site. So far, it's doing a pretty good job." Theo's initial panic had faded away into resignation. The worst thing they could do was kill the void monster, but she figured they'd hold off if they knew she had it under control.

"The fact that he keeps coming back doesn't speak well of… your… pet demon." Tomol's pale skin had taken on a sickly green tinge and the hand that held his Gemini was shaking wildly. "Wait, are you saying you control it?"

" _If she did not, I would have killed her by now_ ," Naebula said brightly. " _And I take great offense to the term 'pet demon.'_ "

"Let me do the talking!" Theo hissed at it. "Just- just go back to being human!"

" _As you wish_."

The vaporous flesh froze in place as color began spreading over its bones. Human skin replaced the black fog, and a set of blue Stormwind mage robes materialized around the body until it was the nondescript blonde girl once again.

Fontn put his hand to his chest and staggered back.

"If he has a heart attack, this is on you," Tomol growled at her. He caught the head mage before he fell and helped him regain his balance.

"I'm not dying yet, you idiot," Fontn snapped. "Damn it, what the hell is that thing?"

Theo sighed and hunted for the least alarming explanation. "So apparently, you can trap the void monsters from broken shards into human skeletons if you prepare it right. You cover the bones with a mix of chloroauric acid, fresh mammal blood, and aqua regia. The confinement is from a silver House of Light artifact that can be put around the neck-"

" _Any limb, not just the neck_ ," Naebula interrupted.

"Fine! It has to touch silver blessed by the House somehow. But after that, it's not able to hurt anything directly."

"Alchemy," Tomol muttered. "I hate alchemy. A bunch of f***ed-up s*** with no rhyme or reason."

Fontn prodded the monster with the end of his staff and frowned. "Oh, that was why you wanted those items. How unusual. Can you feel pain, or hunger?"

" _I do not need food or drink. I do feel pain, but it is not anything like what you would consider painful to yourself. I would, however, appreciate it if you stopped poking me_."

"Fascinating." He lowered the stick and the growing flames at the top disappeared. "Are you entirely sure that it is under control?"

"Yes," Theo said. She didn't believe it herself after seeing what it had done to Beymuch, but she had to reassure them somehow. "It's basically harmless while it's wearing the chain. So… he can't kill the Minister or anyone from the House, but it can sort of, uh, hypnotize him into leaving."

Tomol grabbed Theo's chin and pushed one of her eyelids up to peer into her eye. "Are you sure you are not being similarly manipulated?"

"Yes! Ow! Let go."

"I don't like this," the cryomancer murmured. "Anything with some degree of memetic influence can't be trusted. It might be controlling you and deliberately keeping you unaware."

" _I am actually present_ ," the monster said irritably. " _You may direct questions or concerns to me. And no, I cannot use any powers without a direct order. I am practically helpless here_."

Fontn scowled and looked outside to make sure no one was listening. "Alright, I'm not sure what I'm going to do about this. Helping or not, it's still a security breach that no one has a plan for. You'll stay on-site for the rest of the time that we're here, but afterwards, I need you and that... creature to remain in College quarantine for a week. Who else knows about this?"

"Um…" Theo hesitated, wondering if she should tell him about the others who had helped her, but decided not to. They already knew not to speak to anyone about it. "No one."

"Good. I apologize for this, and it is not about a lack of confidence in you. But in Stormwind, where the population is denser and trapped inside the city walls, it is simply a means of risk prevention. Do you understand?"

The thought of a week stuck in a room with only the void monster for company made Theo cringe, but she thanked all of the gods that it was the only measure they had taken. It was certainly better than the death she had expected. "Yes."

"Very well. Resume your normal border duties, and keep a tight leash on that thing. The House of Light is looking for any excuse to harass me lately… honestly, it's as if they have nothing better to do with themselves." Fontn sighed and glared in the general direction of the city. "I will arrange for memetic ability confinement at the College and you will report straight to quarantine when our work is done here."


	42. We Meet Again

"What a sight," Silver remarked. "I never thought I would see them again."

Iris glared at her and stayed silent. The two Unbroken had largely ignored her for the whole journey back to Attherough, and she hadn't spoken a word to them either. They had given her some minor healing and splinted her broken arm, but refused to fully heal her or give her ruby thorn back. Her eye itched terribly. It hurt to blink.

"Walk." Katana shoved her towards the path and drew her felflame blade. "Keep in mind, if we do not return, your friends will die."

"I understand," Iris grated out. Half of her face was blistered and burned from lightning bolts, and every motion pulled at the wounds, no matter how slight it was. Even the touch of the gentle breeze running across her skin stung.

She made her way down the passage, into the valley. The two earthwardens murmured to each other as they walked, but she couldn't hear anything they were saying. There was a sentry at the bottom of the path, and the shaman settlement was laid out neatly beyond it. Iris could see blurry figures moving around the tents. She hoped Luc was awake. It was almost evening and the twilight was fading fast.

"Who is there?" the watcher called out.

"It's Iris. Two others with me. Don't stop us, we need to talk to Luc now." She had to speak through clenched teeth to avoid tearing at the burns again.

"Only two? Wait, you're injured…"

"Later. Just get us to the Council." Iris brushed him away and kept walking, not waiting for the others to follow. "We're just here to talk. Nothing else."

"Who are they?"

Iris didn't answer. Everything hurt. Several people gathered around her, but she didn't stop. She knew they were suspicious of the others, especially with her obviously unhealed wounds. It would be so easy… with a single word, the two Unbroken would be obliterated by the crowd. But she couldn't throw away the lives of the other three back at Thornhill, especially after Syncro had come back to save her. So she kept moving, wishing there was something else she could do, but mostly wanting her ordeal to be over.

The Council tent was empty except for Luc and two other thunderlords. The guards at the front almost did a double take when they saw her burns, but they didn't stop her.

"Iris…" Luc stood up when she entered. "What happened-"

She shook her head and stood to the side, letting him see Silver and Katana standing behind her.

None of them moved for several seconds. The tension seemed to thicken the air until Iris could barely breathe. The look on Luc's face was unreadable, but there was something about their silence that spoke of decades of pent-up rage and betrayal.

Then it broke, and all five of the shamans reached for their weapons.

"No!" Iris gasped, but no one was listening.

Lightning bolts lit up the dim room. A boulder knocked Silver head over heels before she could dodge. Katana furiously dueled the two thunderlords, trying to keep them away from Silver while she tried to stand. Luc pounced on Silver before she could recover and slashed the edge of his Gemini across her chest. Blood splattered the tent fabric and pooled on the packed earth floor.

Green light flashed across the tent as the two earthwardens cast healing spells. Iris shielded her face from the blinding bursts of energy and dragged herself into a corner. Her mind raced. Intervening in the fight would be suicide, especially without a weapon. Yelling at them would probably do nothing. It was rare that an earthwarden could die from wounds anyway. She curled up in a ball and managed to catch the last pulse of a nearby healing totem. Some of the pain in her eye went away, and there was a sickening crunch of bone as her broken arm fused back together.

The noises died down. Iris peeked up and caught her breath.

Katana, both thunderlords, and the guards from outside were all lying unconscious around the Council fire. Silver was on her back, gripping the blade of Luc's Gemini with her hands and trying to force it away from her heart. Blood was running down her arms from where the crystal edge had cut her.

"Luc, no!" Iris shouted. "They have the others at Thornhill!"

He looked up. Silver knocked his weapon aside and scrambled to her feet. She tried to reach for her fallen axe, but Luc kicked her in the stomach and held the Gemini to her throat when she looked up.

"Where are they?!"

"That is no way to greet an old friend," Silver gasped. She grinned lopsidedly at Luc. Her teeth were stained crimson. "How have you been?"

"I am even better, knowing that you are about to die," Luc said calmly. He looked up at Iris. "Are they unharmed?"

"While we live, they live," Silver said. She wiped blood from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand. "When we die, they die."

Iris nodded. "We couldn't get Elivagar before the Sanctum woke up. I failed you-"

"That isn't important." Luc picked up Silver's axe and lowered his Gemini. "I know that the leaders of the Unbroken did not come to me bearing a wounded hostage to talk about old times. Why are you here?"

"To offer you a deal." Silver spat a wad of bloody saliva into the fire and pushed herself to a sitting position. "I already know there is no love lost between you and I. But we fought for the same cause once."

"I remember. I also regret every minute that I did."

"Really? All of it? What happened, Luc? You were the one who led us against the Crown the first time. You were the one who ambushed Rhune and her guards, and left her bleeding in the Temple with none but the dead for company. What changed?"

"I acquired some common sense. It is that simple," Luc snapped. "That crown is not ours to take! What would you have happen to us, Silver? We would be ruled by a new tyrant on the throne of Stormwind, not the Bloodline, but one of the Unbroken. Someone whose need for vengeance is just as strong as theirs, who would be as hated as the Regent and even more power-hungry. I know what that kind of control does to people, Silver. I have felt it. What difference would it make if it was one of them or one of us?"

"It would have made all of the difference! We were never power-hungry. All I wanted was to be free of their control. They have never understood us, or our way of life. How many compromises have you tried to make with them, only to be cast aside? I know you were the one who confirmed the Regent under threat of death. Is that the treatment given to someone they respect? You are deluding yourself if you believe they will ever change!" Silver coughed up more blood and glared at him. A chain heal flashed from her to Katana, who groaned faintly and moved.

Iris bit her lip and said nothing. She tried not to think about what Silver had said, but the curiosity was still there. Silver had said Luc led the Unbroken, but she had not mentioned his role in the Queen's death. Maybe she was right, and his leadership of the tribes was his way of repairing the damage he had done…

"You did not answer my question," Luc said coldly. "Why are you here?"

"It is simple. We have located the Emerald Heart and are set to destroy it. A majority of the acolytes from Stormwind are currently stationed in Arathi. With the House's greatest weapon out of their hands, and their forces weakened, we can destroy the gates and be inside the Palace in a matter of days." Silver slowly climbed to her feet and looked him in the eye. "I came to ask for your help. We are preparing for war in Thornhill. The only thing we lack is numbers. If they mobilize reinforcements in time, we will need every fighter we can get."

Luc just blinked at her.

"We have a chance against them this time," Silver insisted. "I will not let it slip away."

"You are asking me to violate the tribes' accord with the Crown of Stormwind for a possible suicide mission," Luc said flatly. "Do you even hear what you are saying?"

"The Regent broke the accord herself when she forced you to confirm her. I assure you, there is nothing to lose."

Iris was horrified to see doubt flicker across Luc's face.

"All I ask is this. If you still believe in being free of their control, if you still believe in fighting for the good of all of the tribes, join us one last time. If not, we march alone, and we will return with the head of the Regent or not at all."

The look in Silver's eyes made Iris' breath catch in her throat. Her gaze was as flat and cold as stone, and the traces of dried blood looked like war paint in the firelight.

"The old Luc would have done it," Silver added. "The one who fought the Queensguard with me in the Temple." Her voice dropped until Iris could barely hear her. "The one I loved."

Iris coughed awkwardly and looked away. Both earthwardens glanced up as if they had forgotten she was there. Luc cleared his throat and straightened up.

"Since you have decided to keep my remaining Council at Thornhill, I would like a few minutes to speak with Iris."

"Of course," Silver said quickly. "Katana and I will wait outside."

She helped the fallen shaman to her feet and they left the tent, escorted by the guards and Luc's two thunderlords.

Luc sighed as they left and sat down. "I apologize. Silver and I have… extensive history. Most of it is not something I would like to remember."

Iris nodded and tried to change the subject. "What do you think we should do?" she asked. "I think we both know that they will kill the others if we do not agree to their plan."

"I cannot imagine sacrificing the three that are held at Thornhill. But at the same time, I cannot risk the lives of thousands for them." Luc wiped the blood off the edge of his Gemini with the hem of his cloak. "I suppose it all comes down to one decision. Do we trust the Unbroken enough to believe we might succeed?"

 **COMMUNITY DECISION: Trust the Unbroken and agree to march on the city in exchange for the Council members' survival.**


	43. The Orders

The bloodstains on the ground were still undisturbed three days after the executions.

Stormwind had been deadly silent from morning till night. After weeks of chaos, it was almost peaceful. But the silence was heavy and threatening, as if the riots and unrest were only hidden behind a curtain and were waiting to explode once again.

The gates opened with a loud thump of wood and iron on stone. Acolytes on horseback streamed down the road, led by a single figure in blue and gold armor. They headed towards the House of Light, oblivious to the two warriors who hurried down the opposite side of the path with their heads down, trying not to be seen. No one said anything or stopped them, and that was exactly what Tuff and Sheema wanted.

They ducked down a side alley, away from the acolytes, and walked towards a run-down tavern with a weathered sign. It was a decrepit old place with a crude painting of a rat sitting in a little gnawed hole in a wall. The streets were empty. No one saw them go in.

The bar was as empty as the streets. It was too early in the morning for anyone else to be there. The bartender was bringing out fresh casks and stacking pewter tankards in the back, but he looked up immediately and came over when he saw them approach.

"The sunlight is blinding," he said to Tuff casually.

"There are clouds on the horizon."

"And when night falls, we need shelter," Sheema added.

He silently poured drinks for both of them and slid them across the bar, along with a small silver key. Tuff picked it up and they went down the stairs to the cellar. There was a round rusted metal grate on the floor, which he unlocked and lifted up. Underneath was a low flight of stone stairs that led to a tunnel and a small warm room with several tables, a small fireplace, and a second storeroom.

There were only two others in the chamber with them, and both were falling over in their seats reeking of alcohol. Glass cracked on the cobblestones as another empty bottle slipped out of Couillon's hand and shattered. Sheema flinched at the noise and looked around, but no one else seemed to have heard. Adsaip was already passed out against the wall.

"It's eight in the morning, what the f*** is wrong with them?" she muttered.

"It's five o'clock somewhere," Tuff pointed out. "Look, we don't know if this place is safe anymore. How did they find out about Dragon and Saphyris?"

"I don't know, and it freaks me the f*** out. Do you know anyone who's been acting weird lately or anything… maybe someone who's been bribed or blackmailed?"

"No."

The grate clicked open again and two more people came in. One was very short and the other was very tall, but they were both wearing helmets and hoods that covered their faces. Tuff shifted his chair until he was facing away from them and lowered his voice.

"Who else knew about it?"

"It could have been anyone in here." Sheema looked around and cracked her knuckles nervously. "We all knew this would happen eventually, right?"

"No! We did so much to make sure this would work. Who the hell else knew about the plan?"

Sheema sighed and counted on her fingers. "Me. You. DragonEngineer and Saphyris. Uh, Semiee, Exon, Shimokii, and then Adsaip and Couillon were just sort of over there in the corner. Pretty sure they were both too drunk to remember anything though."

"Well, someone is a mole. It's not me and it's not you. Dragon and Saphyris are dead. Semiee and Exon have been getting ready to go to Neolithic for the past week. I'm pretty sure Adsaip and Couillon couldn't recite the f***ing alphabet if they tried. Where the hell is Shimokii?"

"Dead."

Tuff and Sheema looked up. It was the taller of the other pair of warriors. His face was hidden, but there was something familiar about his voice that Tuff couldn't place at all.

"It's not polite to eavesdrop," Sheema said quietly. Her hand went to the hilt of her sword and she stood up halfway from her seat. "Who the hell are you?"

"Someone who risked quite a bit to meet you here." The man pushed aside his full tankard and stood up as well. He was almost twice her height. "I am only here to give you a message, and an offer."

"That doesn't tell me jack s***," Sheema sneered. "Who's your friend?"

"Unimportant. I speak for both of us."

There was a harsh screech of metal as both warriors drew their swords. Sheema pointed her blade right into the man's face.

"Take off the hood. And your friend's hood. I don't care who speaks. Either show me your face or you both die."

"I don't think you want to threaten him," the shorter one remarked. Tuff lowered his sword doubtfully. It was a girl's voice, very high and very young. "Although if you did manage to kill one of us, I'd be really impressed."

" _Take off the hood_ ," Sheema growled. "I won't ask again."

"Fine." The girl stepped forward and threw back the hood. "You already know who I am anyway."

For a second, Tuff thought he saw an impossible illusion: the face of the dead King staring insolently into Sheema's glare. But a second later it vanished, and in its place was a girl with a pale scar on her cheek and a thin gold circlet that held back her long brown hair.

"It's the Princess!" Tuff yelled. "Someone-"

Something slammed into his chest, throwing him across the room and knocking the air out of his lungs. Tuff coughed and struggled to stand up as Sheema raised her own blade and attacked the tall warrior. Metal screeched against metal in a shower of red sparks as their weapons collided.

 _No… he's Queensguard…_

The warrior easily blocked both swings, grabbed his tankard from the table, and tossed the strong spirits into her face. Sheema dropped her sword with a scream and clawed at her eyes. His elbow struck her in the stomach and she doubled over just as his sword hilt hit the back of her head with a horrible crunch of breaking bone. She swayed for a moment and collapsed.

"No!" Tuff managed to get to his feet, but his weapon was gone.

"Looking for something?" the Princess asked innocently. She held up his fallen blade.

"I would suggest that you sit down and do not try to shout again," the Queensguard said coldly. "To threaten the Princess is to threaten me, and I promise you that is not something you would want."

"Fine. Fine." Tuff glanced over at Couillon and Adsaip. Both of them were asleep and snoring loudly. "We're basically alone. How did you get in and why the f*** are you here?"

"It was very easy, actually. We waited for you to enter, took note of what you said to the bartender, and did the same. Not the most secure system ever created."

Tuff gripped his forehead and swore silently to himself. "So do you at least know who our mole is?"

"No. This is the first time either of us attempted to come here ourselves. It was not Shimokii. He was killed for knowing too little. But he did mention a meeting place here, which was how we found you. Before you ask, we are not here on the Regent's orders. She does not know we are here, and she will never know."

"Then why _are_ you here?"

"She wanted to bring you a message." He motioned to the Princess, who was scratching something into the wooden table leg with the point of Tuff's sword. "Princess… for the love of the Gods. Put that down and tell him what you told me."

The girl put the weapon down with a sigh and stood up. "I assume you had a hand in the plot to burn the acolyte's quarters?"

"I knew about it," Tuff said warily. Sheema was beginning to move nearby and reach for her sword again. "I didn't help them with it. I thought it was too much. We never killed anyone intentionally like that, even if they were on the wrong side." He laughed before he remembered who he was talking to. "I did consider killing Q_T a few times."

"She is easy to hate," the Princess mused thoughtfully. "But listen. Get this message to as many of the others as you can. The remains of the shaman extremists will be at Stormwind soon. They need an open path into the city. The warriors must stop provoking the House before they call in reinforcements… and when they reach the gates, you must fight with them."

"What?" Sheema said weakly. "Shamans? You've got to be kidding me."

Her words made very little sense to Tuff. "Are you telling me you want the Regent deposed?"

The Princess sighed and drew her own tiny training sword from her belt. "Aunt Serena- the Regent has tried to manipulate my sister and I in the past. Her methods are… harsh." She touched the scar on her face and shrugged. "You are not the only ones who have suffered under her."

"She hit you?" Sheema whispered.

"It is not the first time."

"Wait." Tuff slowly reached for his fallen sword and put it away. "There. What exactly do you want us to do?"

"I want you to find a way to stop the unrest entirely. Force the city into peace until the invasion begins. The Regent will think she has won." The Princess smiled innocently and tapped her blade against her knee. "But it is only the beginning."

"What about him?" Sheema demanded, pointing at the Queensguard. "If you don't think he's going straight to the Regent about what he heard here-"

"He obeys my orders. There will be no retribution for this." She shrugged and put her blade down. "It is a common misconception that the Queensguard obey the holder of the Crown. They obey the direct descendants of the King, whether or not they are crowned."

"Then how come you and the other Princess haven't done anything about it yet?"

"We are too young to take the Crown under the current laws, and the throne would sit empty until my sister comes of age. The next Regent would be one of the Ministers of the House, which is hardly better than what we have now, isn't it?" The Princess climbed up on one of the high seats until she could look Sheema in the eye. "The House needs to fall. While they support the Regent, she will not give up the throne."

"Even if it's to stop this, I don't think we can hold back any of the others who are starting s***…" Tuff said slowly. "We're just two people."

"But you have at least a little influence. Remind them that the end is coming, and they must be ready when it does."

"Shamans would never go after the city unless they want the Crown," Sheema said angrily. "You want us to let a full invasion force through the gates? They won't stop once the House has burned. We'll be next." She tugged at Tuff's arm and glared at the Princess and her guard. "This is insane. We can dig out the mole later. We don't need their help."

The Princess put her hood back up and slipped off the seat. "It is your choice. Throw away your only chance and resign yourself to death at Neolithic… or take a chance with your old enemy for the good of all of us. I will leave it in your hands."

She tugged at the Queensguard's hand and they left as silently as they had entered.

Tuff let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "I… what just happened?"

"We've been given an ultimatum apparently," Sheema muttered. "'Support the shamans or keep dying in the mines.'"

"This is insane," Tuff agreed. "Let's see. We're dead if they tell the Regent anything. We're dead if we go to Neolithic. And we're dead if anything comes through the walls of Stormwind."

They looked at each other and Sheema picked up her cup and drank it down.

"Yeah, I know it's early, but f*** it," she said when Tuff rolled his eyes. "Might as well."

He sat down and tried to organize his thoughts, but quickly gave up and threw back his own drink.

"The f***ing Princess of Stormwind wants to see her aunt murdered and the House of Light destroyed. What's going on?"

"I don't know anymore. But if the war is soon, we need to make a decision now. What do we do?"

 **COMMUNITY DECISION: Agree to stop the city riots, ignore the possibility of a mole, and fight with the shamans when they arrive.**


	44. The Final Piece

Axoy unfolded the map and examined the markings again. He had made it through the gates and was standing in a low passageway near the Palace, but not too near to attract unwanted attention. His sword and armor were hidden under a new cloak, and his helmet was tilted carefully to cover his face. He blended into the evening hustle and bustle of Stormwind perfectly.

 _Do this as quickly and quietly as possible. The Regent's chambers will be guarded. A brief diversion will be enough to remove the normal guards; however, the Queensguard will be an issue. They are highly trained elites who will not be fooled by a little ruckus. But they will rush to the aid of someone in distress… or an immediate threat to anyone in the vicinity. Lay a false trail of bodies leading out of the Palace, and they will follow. Remember, the more guards you are able to kill, the easier it will be to leave when your task is complete. Do not make noise, and do not let yourself be seen._

He folded it back up and looked around to get his bearings. Icelyn had marked the path she had taken to leave safely. There was a tunnel passage underneath one of the import storage buildings that led to the cellar of the kitchens. From there, he could pass through the servants' quarters and into the Palace.

The road was emptying out because of the late hour. Acolytes were still patrolling the streets, but none of them stopped to notice him. It was fairly easy to enter the large warehouse building and Axoy hid behind a stack of crates before a guard could spot him. He checked the map one more time. The trapdoor was in a back room, and the tunnel was a straight path to the cellar. It wasn't patrolled during off hours, according to what Icelyn had said, but it was a fairly long walk and once the Regent noticed the loss of the Heart, it would probably be the first place to be searched.

Footsteps moved past him. An acolyte with an armful of burlap sacks passed within a few inches of Axoy's hiding place. He waited for the girl to move on before sprinting silently towards the door of the room. He hoped Icelyn had remembered correctly. Being at Neolithic seemed to have somehow restored some of her memories of the night, but she was so unstable that it was hard to tell.

There was a padlock on the door, but it was hanging open. Axoy pulled it off and put it in his pocket before going inside. Hopefully they wouldn't replace it before he got back. The trapdoor was light weathered wood with no lock or any security, and there were fresh scuff marks on the floor around it. It seemed well-used. He hoped no one was already down there. Axoy listened closely, but there was no sound and he figured it was safe. He dropped down and shut the door behind him.

The tunnel was wide and well-lit. Lamps burned every few feet, and the floor was paved with smooth flat bricks. There were track marks from wheels etched into the surface from decades of use. There was only one way to go, so Axoy simply followed the path and kept every sense alert for other people or acolytes.

It wasn't extremely far, but it seemed like at least a mile. Axoy was a little winded when he reached the end. The door to the cellar was already open, and there was an empty cart sitting on the floor. Someone was shuffling boxes around, but they were far away and he couldn't see them. The kitchen door was heavy iron, and it clicked loudly when Axoy closed it. He was careful, but he knew he'd end up making a lot more noise than someone like Natalie would have.

The kitchens were incredibly busy. He counted dozens of maids and just as many cooks. Axoy figured that the Regent had apparently gotten tired of the lack of service after murdering the twenty, and he almost laughed at the thought. A few of the maids noticed him pass but he simply nodded to them and they moved on. He hoped they wouldn't remember him later. Most of them seemed to be going up a flight of stairs towards a long hallway, and he followed quietly behind. Icelyn had described the path to him, but he glanced over his map one more time. Two rights and a left.

Guards were stationed in the hall at regular intervals. Axoy ducked out of sight and tried to think about how he could do this. The main entrance to the Palace was too far, and the kitchens were too close. He needed to lay a trail that led everywhere but his escape route. A large circle would work, if they didn't look too closely.

A lone guard with a pike was stationed down a side hallway. Axoy straightened his shoulders and reached for his sword as he passed, then swiftly turned and stabbed him through the throat.

The guard opened his mouth to scream, but only a weak gurgle came out. Axoy turned him towards the wall and pulled his sword free. Blood sprayed across the thick carpet and gilded walls. He twitched a few times, but fell still.

It was oddly easy, Axoy thought. He checked his clothes, making sure there was no blood on him, and opened the map again. Zinc had marked the hallways carefully, and Axoy's area led to another hall that held mostly empty rooms. The Princesses' rooms were marked with red Xs, and he had been warned to stay away from those. He hurried down towards the empty wing, hiding his bloodied blade under his cloak.

Four more guards were stationed there. Axoy picked them off one by one and kept moving, cleaning his sword on the clothes of the fallen. The circle was almost half complete, and he would end at the room of the Queen when it was done. Another eight fell, but the last one managed to make a few choked screams. Footsteps immediately starting moving towards him.

Axoy swore quietly and hurried back down another side passage. It led straight to the royal rooms. He had to lure them somehow towards his trail, but at the same time, keep them from alerting the entire Palace.

The big gold door came into view. He counted sixteen Palace guards, and a tall warrior in gold and blue armor. The Queensguard seemed half-asleep, but Axoy knew he would snap awake at the first sign of danger. He wondered where the other three were, and hoped they weren't nearby and on his trail already.

There was another pair of guards nearby, close enough to be heard, but too far to be seen. Axoy struck the wall with his sword and pretended to stagger back, as if he had been hurt. Both guards rushed towards him and tried to help him stand.

"What's happening?" one of them demanded.

"One of the others went insane. He's murdered the guards back there! I barely got away with my life!" Axoy gasped. He quietly drew his sword while the pair looked at each other in confusion. "Get help! He's coming!"

They rushed towards the guards at the royal rooms and Axoy overheard the brief frantic exchange. He got up and moved down the other hallway before they returned. All of the guards were gone, and he could hear faint orders in the distance as they discovered the first of the bodies he had left. Axoy knew there was very little time before they sounded a full alarm. He tried the door handle, but it didn't budge and there was no keyhole.

Apparently it locked from the inside. Axoy wedged his sword between the door and the jamb, muttered a brief prayer, and forced it down. Metal hissed briefly and there was a loud clank as it cut through the tongue of the lock. His heart skipped a few beats at the noise, and he looked around desperately, but no one seemed to have heard and no sound came from within the Regent's room. He took a few deep breaths and eased the door open.

She was snoring slightly, and a stained glass window cast colored moonlight across her face. It was the first time he had seen her look so peaceful. A few weapons were displayed on racks across the walls, but he didn't see her claws lying anywhere nearby.

 _Quickly and quietly_ , Zinc had said. Axoy tiptoed closer, hardly breathing. The gold chain glittered in the folds of her nightgown, and the locket lay on the mattress. Serena's breath hitched slightly and he drew back, but it went back to normal a second later. She was still asleep.

He considered his options. It would be very simple to stab the sleeping Queen, but the consequences to the shamans and everyone in the cities would be too severe. She had to live to see the House's power crippled. Perhaps he could use the chain to choke her unconscious, then shatter the Heart and flee before she woke up… or simply cut through the chain, take the locket, and destroy it elsewhere. Axoy thought about it again. Cutting the chain would make too much noise, and an unconscious Regent would be infinitely easier to deal with. He looked at the door one more time, then grabbed the gold chain and yanked it tight around Serena's pale throat.

Her eyes flew open and she let out a strangled scream. The Regent's hands clawed at his wrists, desperately trying to loosen his grip, but she was weak from sleep and unarmed. Axoy twisted the chain around his hand and tightened it hard. There was a gruesome crack as something inside Serena's throat gave way. Red spots were starting to appear in her eyes. Axoy grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her head forward, digging the chain even deeper. Her flailing hands went limp and she collapsed a second later.

Axoy held the chain for a few more moments to make sure she was well and truly out before loosening his grip. Adrenaline made his hands shaky, but he untangled the chain, pulled out the locket, and forced open the catch. Green light flooded out, almost blinding him before his eyes adjusted.

He caught his breath, gazing at the Emerald Heart. It was far from flawless, with uneven facets and chipped edges, but it glowed far more than the moonlight should have allowed. Axoy had never taken much notice of the Light, but even he could feel the power radiating out of it. Something moved within the crystal's depths. It felt alive and almost too beautiful to destroy. But he thought about Tiff's death, and his hand steadied once more. Black marks flickered across his skin as he tried to focus, summoning up the necessary killing rage.

He pulled the Heart from the locket and set it on the floor. It would make quite a bit of noise, and he prayed that the guards were still on their wild goose chase. Axoy braced himself, raised his sword, and brought the hilt down on the stone.

Something gripped his wrist, stopping him.

Panic nearly blinded him. Time seemed to slow down as Serena tossed him away from the Heart. There was a metallic slithering sound as she curled her right fist, revealing three shimmering silver claws. Light energy swirled around her and the bruised mark on her throat faded away.

"You dare enter my House? To destroy my Heart? Who sent you?" the Regent gasped. Her voice was a hoarse rasp from being strangled, but she was still managing to heal her wounds.

Axoy didn't answer. He struggled to his feet, dodged her first strike, and cast a seismic wave that threw her headfirst into the wall. Bone crunched horribly and she seemed unable to straighten her neck. But she was still on her feet and managed to spread a consecration spell across the floor. Sparks leaped up, burning his legs and face, but he gritted his teeth and ignored it. Her claws tore deep cuts across his face and chest.

He feinted to the right and sank his sword into her vulnerable left side. Blood sprayed from her punctured lung and splattered the burns on Axoy's skin, healing wherever it touched. Serena's breath became short desperate gasps and she fell to her knees. Light sputtered weakly around her, but she couldn't seem to heal herself as she had done before. The consecration faded away.

Axoy touched the cuts from her claws. They were deep, but not fatal. He kicked the wounded Queen in the jaw, knocking her over, and brought his blade down on her wrist. Serena screamed again as her severed claw hand fell away. She gripped the bloody stump in her remaining hand. More Light flickered up and died down.

Her bloodshot blue eyes focused on his face as Axoy raised his sword and pointed it at her throat.

"Any last words, Your Majesty?"

"Yes," Serena gasped.

She opened her left hand. The Emerald Heart lay in her palm in a pool of blood.

" _Serve Me_."

Light energy exploded through the room. The Heart blazed like fire as a bolt of power lashed out and struck Axoy in the chest. For a moment, his mind was overwhelmed by a thousand voices that screamed and whispered and sang and roared in a cacophony of madness.

His vision flashed green, and then black. He felt as if he was falling freely through a tunnel of bright green light. Figures appeared everywhere- humans robed in pale gold and white, and one that shone more powerfully than anyone else, reaching out to him.

There was no pain at the end.


	45. Uncovered

"NO! DON'T GO- Don't leave me! PLEASE! _NO_!"

Lily snapped awake in a split second. Icelyn's screaming rang across the chasm. The little mage was thrashing frantically in her bedroll and clawing at her own throat.

"It's just a dream! Shh!" The earthwarden grabbed her wrists and held her hands still. Fresh blood was running from under her fingernails from where she had scratched herself. There were deep red marks on her neck and face. "Icelyn! Look at me!"

The cryomancer's blue eyes were open but unfocused. "Aitriah…"

"Icelyn, it isn't real. Breathe."

"I- I don't-"

"It's just a dream." Lily could feel the girl's pulse racing out of control. "She's gone, Icelyn."

"Oh…" Her eyes focused on Lily's face and then immediately welled up with tears. "Oh gods… It was so real."

"I know. Come here." She wrapped her arms around the mage's trembling shoulders and stroked her hair. "Was it the same one as last time?"

"Yes," Icelyn mumbled into Lily's shoulder. "She was right there, trying to say something to me… and then she gets pulled into the room. I hear her die again. Over and over."

"I'm so sorry," Lily said helplessly. She didn't know what else to say. Icelyn just sniffled wordlessly, but Lily could feel her pulse slowing down and her breathing was starting to even out.

"Are you going to be able to go back to sleep?"

"I think so." Icelyn sighed and got back under her blanket. "I'm scared though… and I wonder what would have happened if I had only followed orders…"

"You would be dead if you had followed orders," Lily said gently. "The gods gave you another chance and delivered you to us."

"Did they?" Icelyn murmured. "I have no one left. I cannot go home. Everyone I knew and loved is dead. I should be with them…"

"You have helped us more than you could ever realize. Go back to sleep. You are safe here."

Icelyn sniffled and rolled over. Lily tucked the blankets around her shoulders and went outside to where Zinc was standing watch. "She is having nightmares again, and they are much more detailed than before. I don't know what has triggered them."

"There is something strange about this place," he agreed. "I do not understand it myself. The cavern we found was a gravesite for someone very important, but everything that would have explained it is destroyed or buried. All I have found are some carvings that depict an armored paladin, and a few scraps of written characters. I cannot read them, but I would assume they only say the name of the deceased."

He dug in his pocket and held up a piece of the shattered rock for Lily to see.

"You can still see the details. The cuts are very clean; obviously done by a skilled sculptor. But if you look here, the majority of the fracture damage was done from opposite the carved side. Something forced its way out of the stone to the outside."

Lily's heart skipped a few beats. "Are you saying we're not safe?"

"We have been here for days. If there was any danger, we would have seen it already." Zinc looked up at the sliver of starry sky visible from the bottom of the chasm. "It does not answer any of my questions though."

"How much of the carving have you found?" Lily asked. "I can help you put it back together."

He looked at the campsite and hesitated. "If you think Icelyn will be all right without you-"

"She will. Let's go quickly though."

"Then follow me."

Zinc picked up one of the torches and led her down the dirt path and through the tunnel, towards the remains of the burial site. Lily rubbed her arms and shivered. It was not particularly cold, but there was a strange aura around the place that she had not felt in the daytime.

"Over here. This is the pile of pieces that I have gathered, and here are a few that I have connected." Zinc held up his torch so that she could see how the fragments fit together like puzzle pieces. "There is a man's face, and a border with script. His arm is raised, and the background seems to indicate lines emanating from his hand. I need to see what was in the hand… perhaps that might tell us what his role was in life."

Lily crouched down and began spreading out the pile. The carved surfaces were smooth and sharp, untouched by age. "You said this was broken before either the House of Light or the warriors were ever here?"

"Yes. That was the original break from below the carving. The next explosion, caused by the House, struck it from above. If I can piece together the origin and size of the break patterns on the bottom, we might also get a sense of what exactly was unleashed from underneath this panel."

Lily checked the biggest piece. It was pitted and pockmarked on the bottom, and the edges were chipped apart. "I think this might be the side of the hand."

"Hmm, that is the top. The carved lines radiate vertically. But look, this is what is confusing to me. There is very little damage on the bottom. Whatever destroyed the slab struck primarily the top half. I have a few pieces of the top up here, but they are so small that it is impossible to see anything." Zinc pointed to a heap of tiny fragments.

"Wait, let's just start from the beginning. Where was the slab, and how big was it?"

"It covered the remains over here. From the scale of the portrait carving, I think it was around ten feet long and four feet wide. The original explosion forced it completely off the coffin."

Lily sat back on her heels and looked around again. "That's a lot of force coming out of a dead man."

"Exactly. Come here and hold this for me. I think I've found something." Zinc waved her over and started putting down more tiny pieces of stone. "These pieces were triangular until the second explosion pulverized them. I need to find the origin point…"

"Is that the top or bottom?" Lily hefted the stone fragment and helped him fit some more edges together.

"Top, where the majority of the first damage originated. The cracks were shaped like a spider web… let's see. It would have been near the deceased's upper body." Zinc pushed another piece into place. "Yes. This was the blast point. It was extremely small but forceful."

"So…" Lily looked into the grave again. The ribs were almost pulverized, but a few vertebrae and the thicker arm bones were still recognizable. "Wait. The arms were crossed and the hands were raised over the ribcage. They weren't holding the weapon."

"I noticed that. But the location of the blast would have come from the hands over the…" Zinc dropped his stones and looked horrified. "Over the heart."

He looked at Lily and understanding lit up her mind like lightning itself.

"Impossible," she muttered. Her hands went numb and she looked into the grave again. "This isn't…"

"It is an incredibly powerful Light artifact, Lily. It will do whatever it puts its mind to."

"Could it do this? Break through six inches of solid rock?"

"It can raise the dead. I think a few inches of rock would be nothing."

"But why-"

"It explains everything. This was the Emerald Heart's original resting place. The House of Light destroyed the area because they were afraid of what the appraisers might have discovered. But they could not shut down a potential mine because of the void shard shortage, so they executed everyone who had knowledge of the tomb, and sent the mining team anyway. Icelyn's memories are being restored because the Heart's power still lingers here. Its relationship to the dead is bringing visions of her sister back to her. We all felt it… without knowing what it was."

Lily's legs felt wobbly. She sat down on the sand before they gave way. "What do we do now? The Minister from the House will be here any day now…"

"I don't know." Zinc ran his sleeve across his face and picked up the torch again. "But we need to get back to Thornhill before we are seen by the House. It isn't safe for Icelyn to stay much longer. She is already deeply traumatized and seeing her sister so often will induce unshakable survivor's guilt."

"It isn't safe at Thornhill. Elivagar had to flee-"

"Safe or not, I would rather face Luc and his Council than a Minister of the House, her entourage of acolytes, and two hundred warriors. We will leave a message with the others for Axoy when he returns from the city, and hopefully the House does not trace his activity back to us." Zinc grabbed the torch and scattered the rock pieces again. "We need to pack, now. Icelyn needs to be away from this place if we have any hope of keeping her sane."

Lily followed him out of the tunnel and helped him push more broken rock down from the sides to cover the mouth. She could hear a few noises from the warriors' camp nearby, but Elivagar and Mag were still asleep. A small pink glow on the horizon was the only thing that indicated the sunrise.

Everything else was dark.


	46. What We Lost

For the first time in her life, Serena was afraid.

Her mind reeled as Rainbow patiently fused the bones of her wrist back together. The warrior's body had been wrapped in a sheet and taken away. How could they have known? How could anyone have known? Who was behind this? Were there more of them? What could she do?

Alanxye and Beymuch were talking outside. She could barely hear them over the sound of her own raging storm of panic, but their presence gave her a little comfort. For now, she was safe. Serena tried to move her fingers, and was promptly slapped on the arm by the aquamancer.

"Make one more move, and I will reattach it backwards," Rainbow snapped. "You may be the Queen Regent, but right now you are a wounded patient and I am trying to save your fighting hand before it is hopeless. You are not helping me."

"Watch your tone," Serena muttered weakly, but she was in too much pain to argue. She concentrated on the little bursts of coolness on her skin as Rainbow poked and prodded at the bloody stump, coaxing water bolts into the cut.

She had managed to put the Heart back into her locket before the guards found the chaos in her room. It was painfully hot, even through the metal casing, but she ignored it. Serena was sure that it had never been used to take a warrior soul, and she hoped it had no ill effect on the stone.

"Your Majesty," Alanyxe said quietly. She and Beymuch came in, pushing aside her ruined door and treading carefully around the bloodstains and burn marks. "We have the information from the guards, but still no definite identification on the attacker."

"Tell me that the Princesses are safe. Please."

"They are fine. Confused, annoyed, and sleepy, but unhurt. I told them nothing about what happened, only that they should stay in their rooms and make no sound. Can we speak in privacy?"

"Wait." Serena looked down at her hand again. It was fully attached, but there was a ring of rough white scar tissue around her wrist like a bracelet. "Can I move?"

Rainbow shrugged and lowered her weapon. "It should work. I can get rid of the scar if you want-"

"No, I want to keep it. Get out."

The aquamancer bowed and left the room. Serena sighed and waved at the door. "Any way to lock that?"

"I can wedge it closed." Alanyxe kicked some debris underneath the crack and it ground shut. "All right. Here is what we found. He entered through the warehouse cellar pathway and came through the kitchens to the main wing of the Palace. After killing multiple guards and leaving a clear body trail along several hallways, he lured the Queensguard away from your room by saying that a fake intruder was actively killing others in the wing. The Palace guards assumed he was kitchen staff and did not question the report. After they left, he cut the lock from your door and… well."

Serena rubbed her sore throat, feeling the remains of the bruise deep inside. "He came for the Emerald Heart. Only for that. He could have killed me, but he knew that would not be enough to break the House."

"That information leak is another severe problem. We have no idea where he could have even found out that it exists, or how he knew where to find it. Your sister would have been the obvious answer but…" Alanyxe trailed off and held up her hands. "I do not know any other alternative."

"You searched his body, right?" Serena asked.

Beymuch took out a folded cloth and laid it out on the floor, showing a worn piece of paper inside. "We found a hand-drawn map on his person indicating the path to your room. Appears to have been drawn by at least two other people, so we can be certain that there are others working with him."

Serena swore quietly to herself. "Did he come through the gates or was he in the city already?"

"Came through the gates." Beymuch held up a sheet from a ledger. "Wolf was on admittance yesterday. She remembered someone who matched his description in the morning. His reason for visit was listed as 'unfinished business.' Duration of stay was two days. It wasn't a local job."

"So he had no connection to the agitators here?"

"None that we can find."

Serena's heart doubled in pace. Two enemies… one outside the city and one inside. The walls of Stormwind had not been enough to keep her assailant out. There was nowhere safe now.

"Beymuch, seal the gates this morning, and get those moronic mages back into the College where they belong. No one comes or goes until you find out who the warrior was, and who he worked with. We may not be able to fight two battles at once, but we can certainly even the field." She wondered for a second if Fontn had a hand in the chaos, but quickly dismissed it. The old mage hadn't been outside of Stormwind in at least a hundred years.

"Understood." Beymuch folded up the warrior's map and his ledger again. "We did find a few clues to his identity. He appears to have had some history in the mines, even if he did come from outside Stormwind. There are scars on his back and hands consistent with damage sustained from void beings and from a long period of hard manual labor. He did not have access to a skilled healer. Q_T or one of the other overseers might be able to identify him… if she was here."

"I can't recall any of them from Neolithic, and even if I did, it would take days. We need those shards before the shamans decide to start something as well." Serena stared at the ceiling and slowly touched each finger on her right hand to her thumb. The joints were stiff and sore in odd places, but it worked. "All the warriors in the city know each other around here. Question some people, I don't know."

"We have Tiiger and the extra acolytes, it will be done," said Alanyxe quickly. "In the meantime… there is the matter of your Queensguard. The surviving guards reported only one outside of your chamber where there should have been two."

"Are you saying one of my guards deserted?" Serena almost shouted.

"No, he returned after the incident unharmed. He insisted that he was following a lead on your attacker, but his motive is extremely doubtful. Holzsteiner said that he was gone hours before the attack occurred." Alanyxe pursed her lips and crumpled her papers nervously. "I do not want to accuse anyone in your Queensguard of suspicious activity at a time like this… but the timing simply does not match."

"Which one was it?" Serena demanded.

"The one who returned your sister to the House. Jaka."


	47. The Cage

"Name?"

"Theo."

"Spec?"

"Pyromancer."

"Team?"

"Experimental chemistry."

"Team leader?"

"Tomol."

Neko scribbled the information into a large book and copied her name and specification onto a paper tag. "Thank you. Please surrender your weapon for storage. It will be returned after your quarantine is finished."

Theo pushed her Gemini over the counter. The pyromancer tied the tag around the handle and placed it in a padded locker.

"You will not be under permanent observation, but if any change in your current condition occurs, either by your direct action or by circumstances you cannot control, both you and the summoned being will be destroyed. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Theo muttered.

"Sign here."

She scrawled a quick signature on the page and handed it back, trying to ignore the fact that she'd just signed her life away. She could see Naebula wandering around inside the room that would be their shared cell and poking at the walls. Its form seemed blurry and out of focus if she looked at it too long. It was a slight comfort that its abilities wouldn't have an effect on her during the quarantine, but Theo knew it would take more than some memetic dampeners to stop the void monster's constant attitude.

"You will be brought food three times per day, and clean clothing and hygiene supplies once per day. The cell will be cleaned in the evenings and the energy output readings will be checked. The creature's chain must remain in contact with its body at all times, and any attempt by it or you to escape will be met with instant death. You are allowed to request books from the library and writing materials, but you will not be allowed any access to your weapon until the confinement ends. Do you have any questions?"

"No," Theo sighed. "Just get it over with."

"Hey, you'll be fine." Neko dropped her serious façade and squeezed Theo's shoulder gently. "It's a week, and it's not like you're sick or contaminated or dying. You got a super nice bed, a huge desk, and a booklet with the lab results so that you can stay up to date. Just chill out, read whatever you want, get some extra sleep. It'll be over in no time at all."

"With _that_?" Theo hissed. She pointed at Naebula, who was examining its reflection in the full-length mirror on the wall and fluffing its hair vainly. "You have no idea what it's like."

"I'm just trying to look on the bright side." Neko shrugged and produced a key ring from her robes. "Come on."

Theo followed her into the transition room. Neko handed her a set of plain white robes and politely turned away while she changed. "Did I get the size right?"

"Yeah." Theo adjusted the belt and nodded. "So this is it then."

"It is. We'll keep your clothes in here, you'll get them back when you're out. Any last-minute questions?"

"No."

"Go on in then. Good luck, and remember, it's just a week. You'll be completely fine." Neko held open the cell door for her. "Anything you want, feel free to ask."

"Thanks Neko." Theo went inside and the heavy door clicked shut and locked behind her. She sighed. Quarantine was considered a last-ditch measure to prevent the spread of dangerous diseases or other effects. She wondered what Fontn was afraid of, concerning Naebula, but she put the thoughts aside. Once they were out, she could try to persuade him to let the void creature stay at the College.

The cell looked surprisingly well-furnished. There was a four-poster bed, a large wooden desk surrounded by bookshelves, and a little table with two chairs. A panel was set in the wall above the table, probably for food to be passed through, and there was a floor-to-ceiling window that let in the morning sunshine.

" _So this is it then_ ," Naebula said.

"I guess it is," Theo agreed. She went over to where the monster was looking out of the window. The glass was several inches thick and hummed unpleasantly when Theo got too close to it.

" _I can feel the dampeners. They are extremely strong, but not to the point where they are hurting me. I think I can change my face. I cannot do anything else._ "

"Is that going to be a problem for you?"

" _I have never experienced something like this before. We will find out if there is a problem very shortly_."

"We're both going to die if there's a problem. I hope you know that."

" _Death is not quite as much of an issue for me as it is for you. At best case, their attempts to kill me will break the chain and I can escape. You… will not be so fortunate._ "

Theo blinked and looked up at it. "Wait. Do you know where I would go if I died?"

" _For a mage, no. I have been asked if he Void is the afterlife of all humans, and it is not. But… the House of Light is very clear about the fate of a paladin after death, and they are, for the most part, correct._ "

"Really?"

" _The Book of Light states that a paladin's soul goes into a place far above the world, where they are brought before the Light and judged according to their deeds done while they are in their mortal forms. That is where they gain their power; it is a gift of their god for them to use in life, with the knowledge that they will be held accountable for its use at the end._ "

"How do you know it's true?" Theo asked.

" _I have seen it. When Rhune and her Queensguard died in an ambush, I watched her soul, and her Consort's soul, ascend to the Light. I heard a great voice that echoed from the heavens, and I could see a face-_ " It fell silent and its body seemed to splinter briefly and reform. " _The Void called me home not long afterwards, but it was one of a few things that I cannot forget. It seems that the beings you call the gods are very real; perhaps they are not truly divine, but they have great power and influence on your world._ "

Theo nodded, fascinated by the story. "How about-"

The blast of a horn cut her off. Startled, Theo looked up and ran to the window. The gates of Stormwind were slowly cranking closed. Acolytes in blue and silver armor were turning away a small crowd of travelers waiting to leave.

"It's the afternoon. Why are they closing down now?"

" _I would not know._ " Naebula took an experimental step towards the glass and touched it carefully. " _Hmm. I can endure it here. Perhaps there is a threat outside the walls that we have not been informed of._ "

"The only thing I know about was the warriors trying to burn the acolyte quarters. Her Majesty had some of them executed a few days ago and it's been peaceful ever since."

" _Silence does not always mean peace_ ," Naebula reminded her.

"I know. They're scared. Everyone is scared."

" _The Regent will be held accountable by the Light after her death. I suppose that is not much comfort, but I have no doubt that she will get whatever she deserves._ "

"You're right, that doesn't help," Theo muttered. She went over to the bookshelf and looked at the titles. "Oh. They gave me the poetry book."

The void monster didn't react. Theo opened a few of the desk drawers and found some pens and ink, a set of pencils, and a pad of writing paper.

" _I suppose this is the safest place to be_ ," it said after a long silence. " _There is nothing we can do anyway_."


	48. All or Nothing

The tent that Syncro had been confined to was exactly six paces long and five paces wide. He knew because measuring it was the only thing the Unbroken had permitted him to do.

They had been stuck in guarded camps at the Sanctum for days, to the point where the passage of time felt unsteady and blurred. Daylight and darkness came and went in strange patterns. He knew the others were nearby and alive, but he wasn't allowed to see them or speak to them. All he could do was hope that Iris returned with good news from Luc. He didn't want to think about what would happen if she didn't.

Muffled voices came from outside the tent. Syncro put his ear to the wall, but they were still too far away to hear clearly. Footsteps crunched on the dirt outside, and he quickly laid down on his bedroll and pretended to be asleep.

The tent flap opened and a thunderlord looked inside. He wasn't carrying the customary food tray and Syncro's heart jumped into his throat. There was only one reason for a visitor. Iris, Silver, and Katana had returned.

"Hold out your hands. If you fight, I will kill you."

He looked around for the others and spotted Cadences being dragged along by another Unbroken shaman. The thunderlord tied his wrists and led him up the rocky path to the Council seats. All but one of them were occupied, and Iris was sitting in front of the fire, alive and mostly healed. Syncro almost sighed in relief, but he knew what Luc had promised Silver in exchange for their lives.

"Welcome," said Silver politely. "Fortunately for all of you, Luc has agreed to bring his forces out of Attherough and will march on the city with us. Your lives will be spared, and you will meet the others again at Stormwind. "

NightWolf looked at her in horror. "What?"

"It seems he thought together, we had a chance." Silver gestured to the rest of her Council. "We have been preparing for this for a long time. We start out for the city tomorrow. It is a two-day march, but the siege may last months. We are provisioned for six, at most."

"This is suicide!" Cadences shouted.

"This is our only chance!" Silver pointed her axe at the other earthwarden, and for one horrible moment, Syncro almost expected her head to roll.

"You have lived an easy life under the Crown. You have never understood what we suffered. It is time for you to learn."

Another pair of footsteps came up the Sanctum path. Silver quickly lowered her axe as another shaman walked into the semicircle and bowed deeply to her.

"There is no time. May I speak?" he asked.

"You…" She peered into his face and stepped back, shocked. "Zinc. Are the others alive? When did you get here?"

"They are fine. I arrived only a few minutes ago, but this is too crucial. I followed through with the plan that I laid out earlier- sending a lone intruder to attempt to destroy the Emerald Heart. He has not returned." Zinc handed her a tied scroll of paper. "These are my notes, but I suppose they will not help you now."

 _Destroy the what?_ Syncro looked at Cadences and NightWolf, but they looked just as confused.

"Who did you send?" Silver asked.

"A berserker warrior who was the leader of a mining expedition out of Stormwind. He possessed a map of the Palace that detailed a kitchen cellar route leading straight into the royal wing. I know you have been planning this on the assumption that the Heart would be out of their hands. I cannot be certain that it is."

Silver gritted her teeth and looked around. The other Council members looked uneasy. A few of them whispered to each other.

"Can we send another one?" she asked.

"No. If he did fail, the Regent's rooms will be guarded even more heavily this time, and she may have even moved the Heart to a more secure hiding place." Zinc shook his head helplessly and looked at the rest of the Sanctum. "Are you willing to risk all of our forces on a very thin chance that he did succeed?"

"This is unwise-" Katana began.

"Quiet!" Silver dug her axe blade into the packed dirt. "Is there a chance that he managed to at least damage the Heart?"

"Anything could have happened. All I know is that we sent him, and he did not return."

"He could be hiding out in the city still," Barcode suggested. "If he did succeed, the House would lock the city until they found the culprit. They are at their most vulnerable without it."

"He could also be captured or dead," Zinc pointed out. "I must ask you to consider a worst-case scenario. We have nothing that can be used against it."

"But we might never have another chance to take the Crown after this," Fury said.

"We have waited this long already!" Zinc snapped at him. "Silver, I trust your judgment. If you want to continue, I will go with you. All I ask is that you consider what I have said. We have only two options here. Victory or utter extinction."

Silver stood up and looked over the forest that surrounded the Sanctum. People hurried back and forth, hauling packs, taking down tents, and checking their weapons and armor.

"I cannot turn back now. We are so close. I would rather risk it all now than hide another year and hope that the House does not decide to hunt us down." She slid her axe back into the harness over her shoulder. "We need to be cautious though. We might have lost the element of surprise, but there is a chance that the warriors of Stormwind might be blamed for our actions."

The Council muttered nervously again, but no one raised any objection. Zinc looked deeply concerned, but he nodded and was silent.

"The plan remains in place. We stay hidden for as long as possible while travelling." Silver took her seat again. "Tell your troops to make only small fires and stick to the forest. In the day, stay out of view of the towers at Arathi, and at night, we must remain watchful for curious city lookouts or other border security. We must deny them time to prepare defenses."

"The siege engines will be difficult to move quietly or out of sight," another Council member said. "Our supply wagons are also vulnerable. They will have a full day, no matter what we do."

"I know. A day is still not enough to mobilize reinforcements out of the other cities. I expect to face half of the standard force of acolytes, possibly some warriors, the House, possibly the College of Stormwind, and the Regent herself. Heart or no Heart, those are odds that I accept."

Syncro wasn't sure what to make of Silver's words, but the look of resignation of Iris' face told him there was nothing he could do at this point.

"No one has anything else to say? Good. Organize our forces. We ride to the city at dawn tomorrow."


	49. The Other Half

Once again, Kara was woken up much earlier than she ever wanted to be awake.

"Wha'? Too early. 'nother five minutes."

"It is past noon Princess, and we do not have five minutes to spare. Get up now. Your sister is already in the Hall of Ministers." Kakapos practically threw her clothes at her.

"She's a morning person. I'm not." Kara rubbed her eyes and yanked her dress over her pajamas. "I'm cold. Gimme a jacket."

The jacket hit her in the face a second later. "Bring it with you. Come now."

Kakapos practically dragged her out of her room. A guard contingent and Pollau followed her through the hallway and down the stairs to the Palace. She wondered what was going on. All she knew was that something bad had happened last night and one of the other Ministers had told her to stay in her room until it was over. She hoped the meeting wouldn't be long. Kara hated having to sit in on the Minister reports. She never knew what was going on, and there were a thousand other things she preferred to do with her time.

Her boots only grazed the tiled floor as Kakapos hurried her along. The colorful walls felt overwhelming to her sleepy eyes and she tried to focus on the ground. Torchlight suddenly blazed up and Kara blinked. She was already in the Hall. Four of the Minister's seats were full, and her aunt was on her customary throne looking more tired than Kara had ever seen her. There were dark circles under her eyes and she was rubbing her right wrist as if it itched badly.

Panda was sitting on her own tiny throne with her class reader. Kara rolled her eyes. Of course Panda would keep studying through a meeting. She took her own throne next to her sister and prepared herself for the long hours of boredom.

"As you all know," Serena began, "last night, there was an attack on the Crown of Stormwind, targeting me and my connection to the House of Light. It appears to have been a lone warrior acting off the information of at least two people. I have ordered the city closed to the outside until the culprits are found and punished."

Aria gasped and fanned herself furiously. The others didn't react.

"As far as we know, he had no obvious connection to the agitators from the past two months. However he did show physical evidence of time spent in the shard mines, so I have ordered the acolytes in Stormwind to question as many warriors as possible for the identity of the attacker. Q_T is away from the city, and cannot assist us."

Alanyxe stood up and flipped through her notes. "We noted several factors in the success of the attacker. The kitchen cellar was unsecured, multiple guards were less watchful than expected, and there was only one stationed Queensguard outside Her Majesty's room. As you can see, she was able to defend herself and we have taken precautions to let it not happen again."

Backstein glared at the others. "I told you that Lucy's knowledge of the Heart was a risk. This is obviously proof of a leak."

"The attacker came from outside of Stormwind," Beymuch reminded him. "Lucy was dead before it happened."

"Your Majesty, when Lucy admitted to giving away knowledge of the Heart, did she tell you who the contact was?" Backstein demanded.

Serena hesitated and scratched her arm again. "No… she did not. I must tell you that she did not ever admit to giving away knowledge of the Heart, nor did she tell me that she was involved with the surveyor's discovery of the Tomb. I killed her before she could confess."

Everyone gasped in horror. Kara looked up, wondering what was going on. It seemed much more interesting than a regular meeting.

"You have overstepped your place!" Alanyxe snapped. "Lucy was mine to question if you were unable to get information from her. You had no right to execute a possible suspect before a confession or judgment was recorded-"

"I had every right!" Serena shouted. "I upheld my oath to the House, to my family, and to myself. She was a traitor to us long before this attack. I would not have let her live even if she was innocent of the charges."

Backstein looked outraged. "That is-"

"Silence! I made my choice, and I have no doubt that it was right. There are no other possible leaks inside or outside of the city. My brother is dead. His maids are dead. My sister is dead. We are completely secure now." Serena stared him down until he dropped his gaze and sat again. "The intruder had intimate knowledge of the Palace layout. Obviously they have spent quite a bit of time there. The maids and guards are being questioned as we speak, but I am less certain of their involvement. They have no access to the outside world or the other cities."

Alanyxe was practically red with rage. "We have no proof now because of you! I cannot continue to investigate without Lucy to identify possible collaborators or locations where they might be. You promised to allow her to live if there was no outright confession-"

"She fled the College after the surveyors left! That was as much of a confession as I needed."

"That tells me absolutely nothing! We could have found who the warrior was collaborating with if she was alive-"

"Enough!" Serena bellowed. "I am done listening to your complaints. Get back into the city and continue the questioning. All we need is his identity."

Alanyxe threw herself down into her seat, fuming. "As you wish, Your Majesty."

"Good. If anyone else has anything to say about how I handled the case, you may bring your complaints to Wicarlton later. He will ensure that you never speak another word to me, or anyone else, ever again."

All of the Ministers went silent.

"Very well. I expect all of you to remain watchful for any other signs of danger. The executions seem to have suppressed the warriors in the city for the time being, but our priority is to find the other collaborators in last night's attack. And I expect that my Queensguard will remain by my side instead of wandering off into the city late at night when I need them the most!" Serena shot a vicious glare over her shoulder at Jaka, who shrugged unapologetically.

"Dismissed."

Kakapos was the first out of his seat. He quickly tugged Kara and Panda away from the other Ministers. "I am sorry you had to witness that. It has been a frightening time for all of us, and tensions are high."

"It's fine," Kara murmured. She looked at her sister, but Panda's head was down. "Are we going to go to lessons later?"

"Your lessons have been suspended until the attackers have been brought to justice. The safest place for all of you is the Palace, and that is where you will stay."

"Okay." Kara was secretly happy, but she knew Panda would be bored out of her mind. "Can I see my sister occasionally, if we're not going to have lessons? We can study together."

"I suppose you can, if your guards supervise you. Neither of you may have weapons within arm's reach."

"That's fine," Panda said suddenly. "It'll be okay."

"Very well. Just inform your Queensguard that you are going to each others' room before you leave." Kakapos opened Kara's door for her and waved her inside. "Stay safe, Princess. Keep your ears and eyes alert."

"I will." She watched Pollau and the other guards fall into place around her door as it closed. Panda looked at Kara over her shoulder and mouthed some words slowly.

 _It… is… done._


	50. Unbound

It was the second day of the city lockdown, and Panda was already starting to feel her sanity slipping.

She hoped Kara had gotten her message. Panda had done her best to talk to the pair of warriors in the tavern, but she was worried. The few days of eerie peace in Stormwind had raised her hopes, but the attacker in Aunt Serena's room had been a warrior. They probably hadn't listened. She needed to speak to them again.

She wondered if she could get away with talking directly to Kara again. It was hard not to hold a tiny grudge against her sister, but when she thought about their conversation, she couldn't stay angry. Kara had been right, anyway. Hate did nothing for either of them. Hate had taken Aunt Lucy and her father away. She couldn't lose her sister too.

Panda reopened her book and tried to focus on her chapter again. Reading was the one activity she could do on her own without getting bored or lonely.

" _And therein lies the strength of the Berserker: insensate, killing rage. Though physically taxing to the warrior, and fatal if overused, their strength and stamina becomes greater than any other fighter can hope to match. Without it, they are formidable. With it, they are unstoppable. This effect is signified by sudden unnatural shifts in the warrior's eye color, as well as an unusual phenomenon in which the major arteries and veins turn black. This change begins at the extremities of the limbs and progresses towards the torso and facial tissue…_ "

The words started to blend together on the page. Panda snapped the reader shut and flopped down on her bed. She looked out of her window for the millionth time. The view was the same as always. Sealed gates, thin remains of the usual crowd, and the cold clouded sunlight of autumn.

Maybe Avaiidan could get her out of the Palace and into the tavern again. She didn't quite trust him to go alone, and it would raise too much suspicion if he left without her. Kara wouldn't be able to leave her room at all; being the heir with the Birthright did have some drawbacks.

She opened her door. The extra guards on duty all turned to look at her when she came out.

"Princess you need to stay-" Avaiidan began.

"Need to talk to you. Alone. Really quick."

"One moment." Avaiidan waved the other guards away and quickly stepped inside. "What is it?"

"I need to get back to the tavern," Panda whispered. "The one where we met the two warriors in the secret room. They need to be warned about the extra acolytes questioning them."

"I am sure they already know, Princess. You will never be allowed into the city while the investigation is still ongoing-"

"You can get me out. Say I'm going up on the city wall or something. I've been in here for days, I'm bored, I need some fresh air, whatever. We can lose the guards somewhere and be back before they panic and call up Aunt Serena."

"That is infinitely easier said than done. If they send the Minister with us, he will not be fooled at all. The Queensguard are already under suspicion and it is not-"

"I'll take the fall for it if we get caught! The Minister can't stay mad at me… well, not for long anyway." Panda looked out the window again. The wall around Stormwind was crowded on both sides with people clamoring to leave and enter. "Look at everyone down there. They won't see a thing."

Avaiidan checked behind the door again and sighed. "Is that an order?"

"Yes," Panda said quickly. "It's an order. Let's go."

"If I can speak plainly to you, Princess…" the warrior muttered.

"Okay?"

"I feel like you are actively trying to get me killed."

"Shut up, we'll be fine." 

* * *

Several hours of protests and dodging later, Panda was clinging to Avaiidan's hand as they hurried through the back alleys of Stormwind's merchant district.

Her plan had worked flawlessly. Kakapos had caved in seconds after she had told him she was going to the top of the wall. The guard contingents had all but ignored her, and Avaiidan's presence was enough to deflect any curious stares. She had replaced her satin dress with plain leather armor and a ragged cloak whose hood fell low over her face. They had simply walked across the wall to the nearest guardhouse, then climbed down and disappeared into the city before anyone noticed.

The crowd seemed less intimidating this time. She knew that outwardly they looked like two random warriors walking around, but Panda was still nervous. Less people meant less cover.

Avaiidan suddenly squeezed her hand painfully and pulled her aside. The air changed from the sunny warmth of the alleyway to somewhere cool and damp. It was a covered brick passage behind a food shop, filled with refuse and garbage bins. He crouched down behind a pile of empty wooden crates and forced her to duck down as well.

"What's wrong?" she asked but he shushed her quickly and pointed in the direction they had come.

Footsteps splashed and paused nearby. Avaiidan's hand drifted to the hilt of his sword. Panda's heartbeat tripled in speed and she held her breath as the person came closer to their hiding place. They paused again, and a crate shifted and fell to the ground with a loud crack. There was a tiny clink of metal as they bent down and picked something up, then left the passage. Panda closed her eyes and tried to relax.

"Who was that?" she whispered.

"We are being followed. I was not sure of it at first, but now there is no doubt. It is a Stormwind warrior wearing blue armor and a brown sword-belt across his chest. His helmet is concealing most of his face. I cannot tell what he intends, but he is very, very good at not being seen." Avaiidan cautiously peeked out from behind the boxes again and sat back down. "He seems to be gone. But I am worried he may be in the employment of your aunt, in which case we are both as good as dead."

"Should we go back to the Palace?" Panda asked.

"We can return if you want, but we have come this far already. I am also concerned about the rebel warriors. Even if he does not know who we are, he may be using us to find them. If we keep going, we may be able to warn them of two dangers… but there is the possibility of your aunt-"

Panda tried to get her panicked thoughts under control. "No, it's not her. She would send more than just one warrior if she knew where we were going. Can we get there before he does?"

"Maybe, if we hurry. Come on."

They rushed along the path. The crowd was much thinner, and Panda had to take two steps for every one of his, but she managed to keep up. The tavern sign came into view a few minutes later and she looked up just in time to see the blue-clad warrior disappear through the doors.

"Damn it," Avaiidan muttered. "He's inside already."

"We should warn them," Panda suggested. "If he really was trailing us to get to them-"

"Stay close to me. Do you have a weapon?"

"Just a training sword," she whispered.

"Better than nothing. Come on."

He held the door for her and they went inside. Only the usual sounds met her ears. It smelled like stale liquor and wood polish. There were more people inside than the first time they had come, but none of them looked up. Avaiidan tried to gesture discreetly at the bartender, but he was dealing with someone else and didn't notice.

The strange warrior disappeared down the cellar stairs. Panda watched him go until he was out of sight and then looked up at the Queensguard. "He knew the words. What now?"

"Take a seat and act as if nothing is wrong. My priority is to keep you unrecognized and out of danger. If we hear the sounds of a true battle from inside the other room, I will warn the others, get help from outside, and we will leave. Otherwise, stay calm." Avaiidan signaled again, and the bartender came over.

"The sunlight is blinding," he said.

"There are clouds on the horizon," Avaiidan replied. "And when night falls, we need shelter."

The silver key clinked on the tabletop. He picked it up and they followed the short hallway down the stairs and to the locking grate that led to the hidden room.

"Can you hear through the grate?"

"Barely." Panda got down on her hands and knees and pressed her ear against the metal. There were a few murmurs, but nothing that sounded dangerous or threatening. "It seems… fine."

"Perhaps we were worried for nothing. Let's go." Avaiidan unlocked the grate and lifted it up. "Wait at the entrance."

She stepped down and crept over the damp cobblestones. Water was running down the walls and dripping noisily onto puddles on the floor. It was hard to hear anything over it until she was at the room's entrance.

The two warriors from before were at a table with three others she hadn't seen. An adjoining door stood open, and the two drunken warriors were absent. None of the occupants looked at Panda, but they all tensed up when Avaiidan came in.

"We may have been followed here by someone who just came in. Who was that?" Avaiidan hissed at them.

"Old friend of Couillon's. Why?" Sheema asked.

"Are you sure? He trailed us from the Palace."

"Well, that's who he said he was. And Couillon is sober today for some reason. Didn't even know that was possible until now. He's like a different person."

"Did you hear about the attack?" Panda asked them.

"Yes. It wasn't us. I don't know what's going on. But I did recognize the guy… He was the mine overseer outside of the city until it shut down. Axoy. I worked with him." Sheema sighed and looked at her friends. "He was at the Neolithic site last time I checked. No idea why he showed up now."

Avaiidan frowned. "So you had nothing to do with that? No contact at all?"

"None."

"We were scheduled to leave for the mines yesterday," Tuff added. "But they're keeping the rest of the mining teams here until they figure out who did it."

Panda's mind raced. Nothing made sense. Why would someone travel four days out of the desert to return to the city and launch a suicidal attack on the Palace?

"Thank you. Are you remaining peaceful in the city?" Avaiidan asked.

"Yes… well, as best as we can, anyway. So many people are outraged from the executions… it was a harsh demonstration."

"Of course." Avaiidan looked around the table and pointed to an empty table near the open door to the other room. "I am concerned about our possible trail. Do you mind?"

"Go on. We need a few moments anyway." Sheema turned back to the others and they resumed their whispered conversation.

Panda climbed up on her seat and put her ear against the stone wall. Avaiidan leaned over as well. The voices were a little clearer than before, and she could hear moving footsteps, but she could still only hear scraps of words.

" _…murder. She can't do this to me… to us…_ "

" _…not thinking straight. You spent… days together… your duty?_ "

Couillon's voice was low and harsh without the slur of his usual drunken state. Panda frowned and pressed closer to the wall.

" _…lied to me. That has to count for something._ "

" _Too dangerous. You're not…_ "

The footsteps paused and then kept moving. Panda thought the warrior might have been pacing back and forth.

" _You have to… No! They don't know anything… I need your help._ "

" _…are you planning?_ "

" _… has to pay… I'm not… again. It was cold-blooded murder. She admitted…_ "

Avaiidan suddenly grabbed Panda's shoulder. She tried to shake him off, but he dragged her away from the wall and out of the room before she could protest. None of the other warriors looked up.

"What was that for? I was listening!"

"I know who followed us, and I know why. It seems like you are not alone in enlisting the warriors' help to overthrow your aunt, but his reason is much more personal than yours." Avaiidan pulled her up the stairs and through the grate. "I will tell you when we return to the Palace. We need to get out."

Panda took his hand again and brushed herself off as he locked the grate again. "What's going on?"

There was a terrible crash from outside the tavern. Avaiidan looked up and drew his sword with his free hand.

"What was that?" Panda breathed.

"Hide. Now!" He backed into a corner between two ale barrels and adjusted some bags, making sure they were both hidden.

A second later, something exploded in the front room. Screams and shouts rang out, accompanied by the thump of boots on flagstones. A man shouted commands over the chaos and the sound chilled Panda to her bones. She recognized him.

It was Kakapos. The acolytes had arrived.


	51. Converge

Smoke and the cordite smell of crushed rock billowed down the stairs into the little cellar room. Panda could barely breathe. She gathered up a handful of her cloak and pressed it to her face, trying to get some clean air. Nothing was visible from their hiding place, and the noises were deafening.

The grate burst open and the rebel warriors sprinted out of the secret room and up to the main floor of the tavern. Avaiidan pulled both of them father into the corner and ducked down. No one seemed to notice them.

"What's happening?" Panda gasped.

"I cannot tell if we have been found, or if they are simply attempting to question the warriors at the front. Either way, I must get you back to the Palace so that both of us have an alibi… but I cannot leave him here alone…"

"Who?"

Avaiidan didn't answer. Panda lowered her cloak and peered out from behind the barrels, trying to get a glimpse past the stairwell.

Another crash shook the floor above them. A scream of agony rang out and something tumbled down the cellar stairs, coming to rest a few feet away from her. It thrashed for a few seconds and lay still. Panda leaned closer, but quickly hid her face again. She recognized the blue and gold armor of a House acolyte.

Metallic clangs and thumps echoed down the stairs. Glass smashed and the entire tavern shook. More unintelligible shouts and screams floated through the smoke, but the sounds seemed to be moving farther away. Avaiidan pushed Panda back and crept out of their hiding place.

"I think they have been pushed back. Come, quickly. I can't say I am surprised at this outcome… the Minister was a fool to think he could take him on with only one contingent."

Panda let him lead her up the stairs, stepping over the acolyte's body and pulling up the hood of her cloak. Most of the lamps had been smashed, and the smoke was too dense to see anything clearly, but the room had been wrecked in the fight. Fires flickered on almost every wooden surface, tables were overturned, and glass crunched under Panda's boots.

"RETREAT! NOW!"

It was Kakapos, but he seemed much farther away. Panda instinctively shrank back and looked down. The dead eyes of another acolyte looked back at her, and she tried to look away. There were bodies everywhere, slashed and mangled beyond recognition. Blood stained the cobblestone floor and ran down the brick walls. Panda's stomach heaved violently, but Avaiidan seemed unaffected by the carnage around them. For a second, she wondered how many other dead he had seen.

The remains of the tavern door creaked open. Avaiidan pushed Panda behind him and looked up.

"Was this you?" the man asked. Panda frowned. It was the voice of the warrior who had followed them from the Palace. "City security would have been Alanyxe and Tiiger, not him."

"I hope not. You were the only follower I noticed." Avaiidan put his sword away and kicked at one of the acolyte bodies. "Nicely done."

The warrior didn't answer. Panda heard him wipe his blade clean on the clothes of one of the fallen.

"How many retreated?"

"One." The warrior laughed. "Acolytes should know better than to turn their back on an attacker. Cover for me at the Palace. The Minister got away, but they'll come back with more."

"Of course. Stay safe." Avaiidan grabbed Panda's arm and steered her out the door.

A thousand questions ran through her mind. She chanced a look back at the warrior, wondering why Avaiidan seemed to know him. He met her gaze as they passed, and her heart nearly stopped.

"That was Jaka!"

"Princess, you are very good at stating the obvious, but that is not helping either of us right now." Avaiidan was walking too fast for Panda to even stop for breath.

Even more questions whirled around Panda's thoughts, but she could only articulate one. "Why?"

"I think I know, but we need to hurry. If the Minister returns to the Palace before us, they will know we were involved. I need to give alibis for all of us, and pray that the Regent is somehow too distracted to realize exactly who went missing from the Palace here."

* * *

Serena was in the middle of reading her thousandth report of the day when Aria and Alanyxe rushed into the throne room, supporting a bloodstained figure between them.

"In the name of the Light-"

"With all due respect, Your Majesty, the complaints need to wait," Alanyxe barked.

"Kakapos!" The Minister was pale as death itself, and his gold robes were slashed and bloody. Serena dropped her papers and hurried down off of her platform. "What happened here?"

"They were attacked at a tavern two hours ago. He thought he spotted one of your Queensguard entering the place, but one of the occupants activated some kind of incendiary smoke device when he entered. Evidently they had been expecting a raid." Alanyxe lowered the wounded paladin to the floor and wiped her bloody hands on her robes. "The contingent was slaughtered. There were two survivors who made it back to the acolyte barracks. I healed both of them to the best of my abilities, but he could not identify the attacker."

"One attacker? How many acolytes were with him?" Serena hoped she had heard wrong.

"Twenty-five. It was a confined space, and the attacks were devastating. Kakapos did observe… something suspicious, but he is in no shape to speak now."

"Talk faster!" Serena snapped. "What did he see?"

"The fighting style was similar to the one taught to prospective applicants who choose to endure the End of Days tasks. As I said, he cannot give any coherent witness, but we assume the assailant may have been the Queensguard he was tracking."

"Where are they now?!" Serena yelled.

"One is on the city wall with Princess Panda. One is outside Princess Kara's room. Your two are in the kitchen warehouse supervising the sealing of the underground passage. They are all accounted for… which is why none of this makes sense to me."

Serena blinked in confusion. "How is this possible? I want them all here now, with the Princesses!"

Warm Light energy shone through Alanyxe's hands as she knelt over Kakapos again, trying to cover his wounds. "I have summoned them already, but it will take time. He needs a healer from the College… the warrior was many times stronger than he expected to face. These are careless, defensive wounds. I have seen them on victims of ambushes in the past."

Serena didn't relish the thought of having to wrangle with Fontn for a healer again, but it would give her a good excuse to yell at him. "Get Kakapos to his quarters and find a competent aquamancer. Lock down the street and retrieve the acolytes' bodies. Question the witnesses, if you can."

"Beymuch is there now. Most of them have fled. Tiiger tried to round them up, but the few she did manage to find are not speaking."

"Damn it. We need to find whoever was responsible for this, Queensguard or not. If I cannot trust my guards…" The back of Serena's neck prickled. She wondered if it would be possible to recall Q_T from the desert and leave the mines for another time.

"That will take time we do not have!" Aria's nasal voice cut across Serena's thoughts. "I have a report from Arathi-"

"I do not have time for shaman affairs Aria. I trust that you can deal with any complaints independently-"

"We are under attack!" Aria shouted. "Two forces have been spotted marching out of Thornhill and Attherough, numbering upwards of ten thousand. They will be here by tomorrow. As you can see, this incident was poorly timed. I need city security and all acolytes mobilized out of Doriven as soon as possible."

Serena's stomach dropped into her toes.

"What?"

"The shamans have rallied behind the old extremist leaders. We cannot ignore this. If they do manage to breach the city walls-"

Aria's voice faded away. Serena's thoughts flew back and forth between the warrior who had attacked her, and the invasion report. They feared the Emerald Heart more than any other. They would not risk a march on the city if they believed the Heart was still in her hands…

"They planned the attack," Serena muttered.

Aria stopped panicking. "What?"

"The warrior who tried to destroy the Emerald Heart was sent by the shamans. It was a precursor to the invasion. They do not know he failed." Serena twisted her locket chain and sighed in relief. "We have the advantage in this fight. We can easily wipe them out if we need to."

Alanyxe looked extremely confused, but she shrugged and propped Kakapos up against one of the marble pillars lining the wall. "Will you use it now?"

"No. They will turn back if they see it. I need them to come closer." Serena snapped open the pendant and dumped the stone into her hand. "We need to look helpless. Keep the gates sealed and remove the wall guards. Summon whatever forces the College has, and move only the Stormwind acolytes into position. We don't need reinforcements."

Aria's eyes widened. "What are you thinking?"

"I am going to destroy them," Serena said quietly. "If Luc thinks he can defy me again, he is sorely mistaken." She thought of the terrified look on his face when she had slaughtered Icelyn in front of him, and nearly laughed out loud.

"Tell Beymuch to alert the city and keep all Stormwind citizens out of the streets until it is over. I will give their leaders one single chance to parley and surrender. But if they want a war… we will give them one."

* * *

Elivagar's horse plodded over the rough path and up the crest of the hill. He brushed the trail dust from his eyes and looked over the coast valley below. The dull grey walls of Stormwind looked miniature from miles away.

A rider galloped up the road towards the back of the marching column. He watched them hand something to Silver and Luc, and fall back into the line.

"Scout," he said to Icelyn. "They're looking for weak points in the gates and trying to estimate how many soldiers are in the city."

She nodded and rubbed the handle of her ruby thorn nervously. "I've never been in a real fight…"

"I know. You probably won't see any action."

Hooves clattered on the rocks and Zinc appeared next to them a few moments later. "Stormwind is locked down. The walls are nearly empty. Silver thinks they are going to try and wait out the siege, but Luc is still very wary. I cannot tell what they are planning." He looped his reins around his hand and twisted them thoughtfully. "There are no signs of the Emerald Heart… yet."

"Axoy might have been successful, but died shortly afterwards," Icelyn said bleakly.

"That is the best possible outcome. In my experience, that is a thing that rarely happens."

Elivagar tried to put it out of his mind and looked up and down the force. Luc's Council members were keeping to themselves. He spotted Syncro and Iris up ahead. Neither of them had acknowledged his presence, and he had avoided them as well.

"There are no reinforcements coming from Arathi or Doriven. Either the Regent knew they would not get there in time, or she is confident that she can wipe us out without them." Zinc sighed irritably. "I do not like this. There is too much uncertainty in the outcome, and the stakes are too high. Silver would not listen to me when I brought it up to her. She is too much like Luc in that regard. Once she is set on something, she will do it, no matter the costs."

"Is the College there?" Icelyn asked. "They would have mages on the city walls as a first line of defense."

"The wall was almost deserted. There was a gate guard and tower lookouts. Both were in Palace uniforms."

"We have no choice but to go closer," Icelyn muttered. "Whatever they are planning…"

"I know. And it frightens me," Zinc said. "But there is nothing we can do now."


	52. Time to Burn

Panda was curled up in her bed with her book and a lamp when she heard the knock on her door. She quickly blew out the little candle and tried to act like she was sleeping.

The door slammed open and a tall figure with a winged helmet stood in the doorway. Panda shrank down even further under her blankets, praying that no one had figured out the connection between her absence and the tavern brawl.

"Princess, there was a light under your door thirty seconds ago. Get up now."

It was Beymuch. Panda's heart raced and she wondered if there was anywhere she could run.

"The city is under threat of imminent attack. You and your sister are to be escorted to a secure area of the Palace and will remain there until it is safe again. Do not make me drag you out of your bed."

 _Attack?_ Panda put on a sleepy façade and tried to figure out who would be attacking the city at a time like this. "Okay, okay, I'm coming. Can I bring stuff with me?"

"No. Put on your boots and armor. The only item you may carry is a weapon." Beymuch tapped his sword impatiently against the wall. "Princess we do not have time for this. We have hours until they are at the gates."

The shamans. Panda's sleepy brain finally made the connection and her heart nearly jumped out of her chest. She wasn't sure the warriors had really agreed to help them into the city, especially now that the gates were sealed. All she could do was pray that they remembered what she had said. Panda barely had time to buckle up her armor and grab her little wooden sword from underneath her pillow before Beymuch grabbed her arm and hurried her down the hallway. Avaiidan and the other guards followed them along.

Kara, Alanyxe, and Pollau met them at the stairs that led down to the throne room. Her sister looked equally sleepy and confused, but she locked eyes with Panda and there was a tiny glimpse of hope and excitement there.

"Kakapos is still recovering in his chambers. I couldn't retrieve an aquamancer from the College… Fontn is unusually bitchy today." Alanyxe twisted her sword in its sheath with a screech of metal. "He assured me that the College would look after its own in the event of an attack and proceeded to tell me to… ah, insert my concerns for the Minister's safety up a private orifice."

Beymuch rolled his eyes and tugged Panda down the stairs. "He refused to send out the mages for wall support?"

"Blatantly, and with plenty of colorful insults." Alanyxe followed them down, checking behind the group as they entered the throne room.

"He promised to aid the Bloodline when he took his Oath as the head mage," Beymuch pointed out.

"I told him that. He didn't seem to care."

"Then he's chosen his side. We can deal with him after the heirs are secure. "

"It's not just that," Alanyxe said. "No mages means no ranged advantage for us. They can get as close as they want, and there's nothing we can do about it."

"Tell Her Majesty when we reach the secured area. She'll want you to go dig Fontn out of his rabbit hole and drag him to the Palace, probably." Beymuch took a painting off the wall and prodded at the bricks with the point of his sword. Light sparked briefly and something clicked deep inside. The stone wall slid back, revealing a dark passage that led to a brightness somewhere in the distance.

"Princesses, follow me. Queensguard, remain outside and wait for further orders. Alanyxe, watch our backs." Beymuch ducked down and walked briskly down a flight of dusty stairs. Panda struggled to keep up, nearly tripping on her own sword before she found her footing again. Kara grabbed her arm and helped her along.

"Are they going to do it?" her sister breathed. The words were so faint that Panda had to struggle to understand.

"I think so," she whispered back. "But… other things happened. I'll tell you later."

Kara dropped her arm with a slight nod. Alanyxe was looking back up the stairs and didn't seem to see them.

Another lock clicked and a pair of heavy iron doors swung open at the base of the stairs. Beymuch pushed Panda and Kara inside and pointed ahead.

"Her Majesty is waiting for you both, with her Queensguard. I need to check the wall reports again and make sure nothing has changed for the better or worse. Alanyxe, tell her about your issue with Fontn and storm the College if you need to. Good luck to you both." Beymuch nudged past them and went back up the stairs.

"Princesses, move along." Alanyxe closed the door and hurried up in front of them. "You'll be perfectly safe here. There is enough food and water for a year, spare weapons, extra armor, and places to sleep. But if all goes well, you will only have to wait a few hours."

"What?" Kara asked, but Alanyxe just shook her head.

"You will see for yourself. Come along."

Light radiated from the back of the long room. Panda looked around as she walked, but she could only see the faint shapes of things lying around. There was an odd quality to its brilliance that seemed to warp the air and drain color from her surroundings. There were three people up ahead that were probably her aunt and the Queensguard, but it was impossible to see any details in their faces. A Light shrine stood at the end of the room behind a tall throne and several stone pillars that supported the walls. Panda thought it might have been a beautiful room if she could see anything around her.

"I am sorry, my dears, it is so late and I'm sure you're both panicking." Serena looked up as they approached. Her scarred hand was clenched around something that glowed brightly. "Rest assured, I have everything under control."

Panda nodded and tried to look like she had been panicking.

"Some things may happen that are… alarming to you. It is important that you do not interfere and remain quiet. I need my full concentration on the task at hand, and if you see… visions or hallucinations, do not be frightened. Try to remind yourself that they are not real and cannot hurt you. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Kara murmured.

"Very good. Alanyxe, is there something you wanted to discuss?" Serena asked.

"Fontn is refusing to send the College teams to defend the walls. I tried to reason with him, but he would not even send us an aquamancer to heal Kakapos. I do not understand why he is so agitated lately…" Alanyxe sighed and threw up her hands. "It does seem to have something to do with your sister's death."

"I had to trick Fontn into giving her up. I thought his wounded feelings would be mended by now, but apparently he is still upset." Serena scowled in Panda's general direction and she instinctively shrank back. "We can spare ten units to try to smoke the old badger out of his den. Try reasoning with him again, and if that does not work, destroy the gates and kill only as many mages as you need to get your point across."

"Understood." Alanyxe bowed and went back to the iron doors, drawing her sword as she went.

"Ladies, there are separate rooms on both sides over there." Serena pointed to two wooden doors next to the Light shrine. "Make yourselves comfortable. I do not know how long we will need to be here."

* * *

Alarm bells rang out across Stormwind. Fontn was deadbolting the College doors when Cthuko burst into the foyer, completely out of breath. The end of his staff glowed white and smoked ominously.

"Stormwind is under attack. There are twenty thousand shamans at the gates. We have to-"

"The Minister of Security was already here," Fontn snapped. "I sent her away a few hours ago. Set the lockdown protocols for twenty minutes, and begin sealing the blast doors on all sides. I want team leaders to secure their research subjects as best as they can, then gather here and get ready to defend the College from within."

Cthuko's jaw dropped.

"The College- you're not… you are supposed to send them out to suppress the shamans if they come within range! The acolytes will need healers-"

"Serena and the Palace can burn for all I care. I know I broke my oath. The Minister reminded me of it already." Fontn looked out of a window before slamming the shutters closed and twisting the locks until they clicked shut. "Streets are empty. I think everyone is in hiding after hearing the bells. Make sure everyone evacuating is on alert for intruders. She is going to come after us first, and we have to convince her that we're not worth the time and effort."

Cthuko shut his mouth and let out a resigned sigh. "Well it's too late now. I am giving an evacuation order to the east and west wings, with all team leaders and their trainees to gather here and on the lower floors. All quarantine subjects will remain in containment on the upper floor."

"Go. Make sure no one is trapped outside. Acolytes don't play fairly. This is not going to be an easy fight."

"I know." Cthuko hurried away down the passage to the west. Fontn watched him leave and wondered if they were going to get out of the mess alive.

Another bell rang sharply. Doors opened and closed, and people began to trickle into the foyer. Three teams gathered by the west entrance, led by Heatran, Creaam, and Sheer, whose robes were smoldering and smoke-stained.

"It wasn't my fault," Sheer said immediately. "Creaam started it."

"He punched me," Creaam mumbled. There was a dark bruise starting to form on his jaw.

"You hit my hand with your face," Sheer insisted. "I didn't actually-"

"He blew up a set of test samples," Heatran said. "Just the usual. What's going on? We heard about the shamans outside the gates already."

Fahsil and Tomol dragged their teams in from the east wing. Fontn waited until all of them were reasonably quiet.

"We need to evacuate quarantine right now, I have an incapacitated teammate-" Tomol began.

"That thing isn't coming out of restraints! The girl is safer there than anywhere else in the city right now. Is everyone here and accounted for?"

"That was everyone I found," Cthuko called from the back. "Checked outside too. We've got a proper invasion force out there." He touched the point of his katana to the seams of the College's front doors. The sharp smell of burning metal spread through the room as the iron melted, sealing the entrance closed. "What are they here for? I have never seen them gather like this before…"

"I have no idea. But any enemy of the Regent is a friend of mine." Fontn looked around and counted heads. "Oh gods. We're missing a team. Zech. Anyone seen him?"

"He's outside," Heatran called. "Said he was 'setting something up,' whatever the hell that means."

" _HE'S STILL OUTSIDE_? I ordered the lockdown an hour ago! Cthuko, didn't you check outside?"

The pyromancer threw up his hands. "Well he wasn't on College grounds. Couldn't find him. Maybe he's upstairs or something."

"Damn it. All right, we can't go back for him. He's on his own." Fontn took a deep breath and looked around.

"Right now, I need all of you to listen. The city is in grave danger, and there is a possibility that the Palace will fall. The Regent and the Ministers are mobilizing the remaining acolytes in Stormwind as I speak. I have refused to lend assistance to the Bloodline, violating my own vows that I took as the leader of the College, and it is only a matter of time before the Regent sends more of the House forces after us. In the event that the shamans outside of Stormwind are defeated, or if the acolytes do manage to enter this hall… every last mage within the College must fight to kill."

The team leaders were uncharacteristically silent.

"I have laid a deadly burden on all of you, and I cannot undo what I have done," Fontn continued. "I must live with the knowledge that I may have doomed you for my own selfish reasons. If you can… when this is over, forgive me."

Boots thumped up the path outside the doors, cutting off the rest of his words. All of the team leaders backed up, drawing their weapons. Something slammed into the heavy door, which groaned, but the seal did not break.

"Open the gates! Her Majesty commands you!" A woman's furious yell cut through the somber silence.

"Alanyxe," Cthuko whispered. "City security, definitely has acolytes with her. They're here for you."

"I think I've made my opinion of Her Majesty very clear to you already," Fontn called back. "Unless you would like to argue with me some more, I suggest you leave now."

Metal clanged loudly as the Minister jabbed her sword into the seam between the gates. "This is a direct breach of your Oath as the Head of the College of Stormwind. I have ten units of acolytes with me and we will not leave until you willingly release your forces to fortify the walls now or prepare for a full breach-"

Something outside clicked loudly. Gears ground and clanked back and forth. All of the mages hurried to the unbarred windows and looked outside.

"…what… what is- _AAAAAAAHH_!"

Six of the lion statues flanking the College doors opened their mouths, revealing a strange mechanism of brass pipes. Bright purple fire raged out, engulfing the Minister and her acolytes in a split second.

No one said a word. The unnatural flames died down quickly and the statues grated back into their original pose. Twenty-six neat piles of white ash and charred bone lay before the gates.

A lone figure in a blue robe wandered up the path and tapped on the door.

"So that was pretty f***ing awesome, but I think you locked me out," Zech called. "Do I hear a thank-you?"

Fontn opened and shut his mouth. For the first time in decades, he had nothing to say.

* * *

"And here I thought the historical research team was boring," Sheer remarked. Cthuko had managed to crack open the gates long enough to let the cryomancer and his team back inside. "I should have picked historical instead of chemical."

Heatran cringed at the thought. "No. Just… no."

"When Arathi revolted against the Crown, the Head Mage at the time was afraid that it would come down to a full-scale invasion," Zech was explaining to the horrified crowd. Fontn looked like he was about to faint at any moment.

"He had the entire College fortified with hidden traps to ensure that intruders wouldn't survive long enough to threaten anything valuable, like the Library. They were deactivated centuries ago, but there's basically an instruction manual for every single one of them, and they're still in good shape, since they were never really used. I was working on restoring them before the void project started. Didn't think I'd ever get a chance to actually see them in action but…" Zech grinned and pointed one of the lion statues affectionately. "Now's as good a time as any, right?"

"Ignoring the fact that you could have killed all of us with no effort at any time, how many are functional?" Fontn asked.

"Technically all of them except for the acid pools or releases... They're meant to be activated and deactivated extremely quickly, with just a few cranked gears and a lever. Some need a tripwire, projectiles need ammunition. I think the ceiling spikes need new springs. Obviously we don't want to set off this one right here." Zech pointed to the mosaic inlay on the floor right under his feet. "The tiles drop down and start shifting back and forth, really fast. A gap opens up in the floor, you fall in, can't get out, and then it breaks your leg when it closes."

"Lovely. Did you activate any of the others besides the flamethrowers?"

"Yeah. Whole west side is one big death trap. I heard the evacuation order and decided to risk it after everyone cleared out. We were coming around to the east entrance when we saw the acolytes in the street. The lions take fuel about thirty feet away from the base of the statues, and I didn't have anything conventional on hand, so I used the stuff that powers the dust smelters in the mines. Looks like it worked fine."

Something crashed down in the distance, rattling the walls. Zech looked extremely pleased with himself.

"The ceiling drops down to the floor on the side. Takes about twenty-five people to set it off, but once they're in, they don't come out. Basically how it works is that the pillars on that side are actually there to hide the wires that connect to a spring-powered pressure sensor, so when those springs get depressed too far, it releases the catch that holds the ceiling-"

"Alright, alright, I get it," Fontn interrupted. "The point here is that we are absolutely under attack. The Minister said she brought ten units of acolytes. That's 250 total… or probably 200 now." He looked towards the direction of the noise. "I assume all the traps are one-time use?"

"I can reset them, but yes. I'd have to go down there myself to get them active again. But let's be honest here, they're never gonna get past all of them. East side is the most vulnerable. I don't think they're going to risk the front again… I mean, a Minister of the House just got destroyed in seconds. Just worry about the east and we're good."

"So they definitely don't know that east is vulnerable," said Fontn thoughtfully. "Take your team and try to activate as many as possible from there. If they start coming in, give them a few warning shots and then close the blast doors. It's much easier to defend from inside."

"Got it." Zech waved for his team to follow him towards the east hall. "Guys, we're going east side. Priorities are the gas chamber, the door spikes, and the wall crushers. We're going to try loading up the Angel of Death, but she's finicky, so we'll just insert the new cartridges now, and if she doesn't wanna work, it's not the end of the world."

The four pyromancers followed him out of the main hall and into the east wing, heading down towards the lecture halls and examination room.

"And here I thought I had at least one sane team leader," Fontn muttered.

"Sane people wouldn't put up with you for as long as we did," Heatran pointed out.

"F*** off and get your team battle-ready."


	53. The Rose and the Thorns

Luc and Silver waited at the city gates, watching the sun rise over the towers. Their forces were arrayed in front of the deserted wall, waiting for any signal to attack.

Stormwind seemed dead. The alert bells had rung a long time ago, and there had been no other sound since then. Doors occasionally opened and closed at the tops of the towers, but the number of guards stayed the same. No shots were fired, nor was there any sign of the Queen Regent.

"I do not understand why we cannot just storm the city now," Elivagar complained.

"Too much at risk. If she does still hold the Emerald Heart, that would be suicide," Luc snapped at him. It was the first words he had spoken to the other earthwarden since the night of his banishment.

"We would have seen some indicator of its presence by now if she was going to-"

As if waiting for his cue, a blinding flash tore open the cloudy sky. Lightning exploded from the roof of the Palace and arced up into the heavens, forming a slim thread of golden Light that shone like molten metal in the dimness. It hung in the air between the city and the sky. Energy raced up and down in pulses of green and silver.

Elivagar shut his mouth quickly. Silver clenched the handle of her axe and swore quietly to herself.

"So he failed," Luc murmured. "We need to retreat. Now. She could slaughter us all…"

"The gates!" A shout came from the front lines of their combined force. "The gates are opening!"

Luc nudged his horse forward. Silver and Elivagar followed close behind. A single rider was approaching them slowly, raising a black flag.

"It is a messenger," Silver said. "They are offering us a parley."

"This could be a trap."

"There is no need to trap us or kill us through some trickery when the Regent has already demonstrated the power of the Emerald Heart. Besides, she has acted honorably with shaman emissaries in the past." Silver lowered her axe and motioned for Luc to do the same. "If she allows us to bargain peacefully, we may be able to leave Stormwind territory without bloodshed."

 **COMMUNITY DECISION: Accept the parley and send three shamans under a truce to speak with Lady Aria and Queen Regent Serena.**

* * *

"I will accept the offer, if no one has any objections," Silver said. "And I will go."

"We cannot risk you," Luc said immediately. "I will go."

"Do not act like you care about me," Silver muttered. "I will bring two of my Council-"

"Do you really think Serena will want to hear from the shaman who plotted the murder of her mother? Find Syncro for me, I sent him as emissary when she first took the throne. Hopefully she may be reminded of our agreement…"

"I am already here." Syncro hurried up to the group, leading his horse. "Iris is prepared to go as well."

"No," Elivagar snapped. He shoved the thunderlord out of his way. "I am going."

"You are not doing any diplomatic speaking while there is still breath in me," Syncro retorted. "I have dealt with the Regent and Lady Aria in the past-"

"And you doomed us all to the possibility of wasting away under the Crown," the earthwarden sneered. "No one has forgotten that."

"I will go," Nora piped up from the other side. "Lady Aria likes me."

"I cannot tell if you are very brave or very stupid, but either way, you are not doing the talking," Elivagar snapped at her. "I suppose she can come with me, though."

Luc and Silver exchanged conflicted looks.

"I believe the time for gentle diplomacy has long since passed," Silver finally said. "Zinc, accompany Elivagar and Nora to the Palace. Make sure they do not step on too many of the Regent's toes… but feel free to twist her arm a bit."

A few hours later, the three shamans followed the silent messenger through the city gates. Elivagar looked around and immediately felt claustrophobic as he passed under the stone arch. The heavy walls and tall buildings cast sharp shadows against the radiance of the Light pouring from the top of the Palace.

Acolytes watched them closely from both sides. A wide assortment of weapons were held at the ready, not enough to be threatening, but they served as a clear warning. _Make one wrong move, and you die_.

He tried to count how many there were, but it was impossible to tell. They seemed to be evenly matched in numbers against the shamans outside. He didn't see any signs of mages or warriors in the assembled army or on the walkways at the top of the wall. Looking up at it made him dizzy and he quickly concentrated on the feel of the horse's reins in his hands.

They turned down the winding main street and through a long strip of strange box-like houses, with very small windows and doors banded with metal.

"Acolyte's barracks," Zinc whispered to him. "They are going to meet us in the House of Light, I think."

Elivagar nodded and tried to push down his nervousness. They were meeting on Serena's terms, in the place where she held absolute power. He thought about what Silver had told him to say, and clung to her reassurances that the Regent was not likely to hurt them in any way. It was a fragile hope that seemed to wear even thinner when they reached the doors to the House.

"Dismount here, then enter the main hall and wait. The Lady Aria and Her Majesty will meet you there."

Zinc bowed slightly to the messenger and swung down off of his saddle. Elivagar did the same and an acolyte took the horses' reins. Nora looked defiant for a few seconds, but Zinc shot her a glare and she grudgingly followed suit.

The gold doors opened and they went inside. It was dark compared to the searing Light outside, and Elivagar had to squint to see anything. There were rows of worn wooden pews along the aisle, but all of them were empty. Lamps lined the walls and columns, and there was an odd stone sculpture that stood on a platform at the end of the hall.

"So they agreed to a parley." A woman's voice echoed from the far end of the House accompanied by two pairs of footsteps. "Seeing as they mustered all of their remaining forces to confront the House of Light yet again, I was not sure wisdom still existed among the shamans' leaders. I thank you all for proving me wrong."

Nora opened her mouth and Zinc elbowed her hard in the stomach before she could speak.

"We are not here to trade insults, Your Majesty."

"I know." The Regent stopped in front of the sculpture, picked up a silver pitcher, and poured its contents into a small hollow. "Neither am I."

She lit a tiny candle over the pool of water and waved her clenched right fist over the flame. " _I, Serena Rose, am the Daughter of the House… the Child of the Light who wields the power of the gods in mortal hands. I ask for your blessing in this time of strife. Send me those who walked before, the fallen, the weak, the timid, the wronged. Send me the strength they once had… and let their fury cleanse this world._ "

The water seemed to boil up towards her hand, rising and surging of its own accord in a glistening pillar. Elivagar felt a terrible wave of power so strong that his hair nearly stood on end. The air twisted and shattered around the sculpture, then reformed a second later. The tiny candle flame wavered for a second, and exploded into a column of golden Light that rose through the roof of the House into the clouds above.

"I have activated two shrines. The third will unleash the power of the Emerald Heart on every single one of your fighters. There will be nothing left of you, not even bones. The shamans will fade into memory, then myth. Soon the world will forget you even existed." Serena turned away from them and Elivagar heard a tiny click as she fumbled with her locket. Her right wrist looked odd somehow, but the illumination radiating from the shrine seemed to wash the color and detail from his surroundings.

"We are at your mercy," Zinc said quietly. "We ask that you allow our forces to leave unchallenged, and in return, the shamans will return all of our lands to the Crown. We will abandon this country entirely, and seek a new homeland beyond the sea. There will never be resistance to the authority of the Bloodline from us again, and we will not return."

"Oh good heavens," another woman quavered. "Zinc… oh, it doesn't have to be like this, dear."

"Aria, shut up," Serena said flatly. "I must say, I expected better of you, Zinc."

"If your expectations were that high, then you never truly knew me, Your Majesty."

"Hi Lady Aria," Nora chirped.

"Nora… oh my goodness." Lady Aria sniffled sadly and brushed at her eyes with the sleeve of her robe. "I am so sorry to be meeting with you here."

"If you are done having your little reunion, I will lay out my own terms for them to consider," Serena growled. She scratched at her wrist and glared at the Minister.

"I apologize," Aria said meekly. "Go on."

"Here is my offer. You will surrender your leaders and their Councils to me for public execution. You will allow me to select the new shaman leadership, and then you will proceed with your plan to abandon your current lands. I know that you helped to plot a direct attack on the Palace using the warriors at Neolithic. Lady Q_T has been warned about their involvement. She will make sure that all of their conspirators are silenced." Serena smiled coldly and turned her locket over in her fingers. "What do you say? Eighteen lives in exchange for thousands. It is a rather generous deal, considering the injury you did to me."

Cold numbness ran through Elivagar's veins and he nearly collapsed. Axoy had failed worse than they had thought. How had she traced it back to their plan at Neolithic?

"I will be meditating at the shrine if you need time to think." Serena turned her back on them and walked down to the front pew. "This does take quite a bit of focus, you know."

The moment she was gone, Aria rushed up to them and gripped Zinc's shoulders.

"I swear, this wasn't what she said she was going to do. I had no idea she wanted to… oh my goodness, I can't even consider it." Aria began to sob into her hands. "I don't know what you can do now…"

"We'll find another solution," Zinc muttered. "We cannot bargain away their lives without-"

"We have two things on her," Elivagar said suddenly. "We know that she took the crown by threatening Luc, and we know she killed the King's maids."

"What?!" Aria gasped. "These are outrageous accusations-"

"Aria, not right now," Zinc told her. "I do not see how threatening her will do us any good…"

"Do you think her own acolytes will stand behind a murderer and a liar?"

"They have to! We have no chance here. I know you do not like hearing this, but the odds are much too high to try anything-"

Elivagar nudged him aside. "Aria, tell her that we will surrender on my terms alone. She will give up the crown that she took by force, and she will resign her position as the Daughter of the House. The Ministers will punish her for the murder of the king's twenty maids and a warrior of Stormwind. The true heir will be crowned as soon as she is of age, and Serena herself will live out her days in Arathi as an exile. Those are our terms. We will not accept any other."

Nora's eyes bulged and Zinc went deathly pale. "Have you lost your mind?"

Aria opened and shut her mouth several times, glancing at the three shamans. "Her Majesty… will not be happy with your decision-"

"It's not her decision to make," Elivagar snapped.

"Clearly I spoke too soon about the presence of wisdom among the shamans," Serena muttered from the front of the hall. "Have you forgotten that I can wipe out your entire force of fighters at any time?"

"I think the dead are the last ones you would want to answer to," Elivagar said quietly. "I am sure they remember the face of their killer very well... particularly the Palace maids and a certain warrior."

The Regent seemed to freeze in place. "Who?"

"Save the innocent act for someone stupider than me." Elivagar gripped the handle of his felflame blade. "I know what you did to wear that crown, and I know you will answer for your crimes."

Serena fixed him with an icy stare. "You presume to know far too much-"

"That crown should never have been yours!" Elivagar shouted back. "We know you coerced Luc into giving you the Regency! Where are your promises now, oath-breaker?"

"There was no alternative!"

"There was an alternative. One that you could never consider. Forgiveness. Allowing your sister to return to the Palace, not as a prisoner or an exile, but as your own flesh and blood. Then the Regency could have been yours by the Chieftain's free choice, and this might never have happened at all."

Aria let out a little squeak of panic. "Don't listen to him, Your Majesty, he hasn't any clue what he's talking about-"

"I do not care about what he knows or does not know, I will not stand for this-" Serena began.

"Take a seat then," Elivagar sneered. "Take several seats actually. One for your arse and five for your ego."

"Excuse me!" Serena hissed. "As the Daughter of the House and the Queen Regent of the three cities, I can have you killed-"

"You are also living proof that neither of those positions require great gifts of intelligence," Elivagar said pointedly. "We are here as your guests. I am neither a subject of Stormwind nor an acolyte of the House- you have no power to threaten me here and now. I will ask only one more time: _accept my terms or stand aside, you stupid woman_. "

The Regent's pale face turned red with fury and the Light shrine raged even brighter than before. "You have overstepped your bounds. Tell Luc to make his peace with whatever gods he prays to. He will meet them soon."

"Your Majesty," Aria whispered. "He does have a point about your-"

"This is not a time to bring up Lucy to me Aria. Lead them back to the gates and help the other Ministers ensure that the city is secure. I think this will be over even faster than I thought." Serena turned away again and lit another tiny candle in front of the shrine. "Go."

"You will pay for what you have done," Elivagar called to her. "We both know that the dead have a lengthy score to settle with you."

"Your knowledge of the Heart's capabilities is basic at best." Serena picked up the candle again and faced him. "If you knew anything about its true power, I think you would not have said what you did… but this is what we have come to now."

"It is," Elivagar said. He brushed Aria's trembling hand off of his shoulder and met the Regent's gaze. "No matter what happens next… there is blood on your hands. We will take our leave."

She was quiet for a long time, staring into the tiny flame. Aria fidgeted nervously with the sleeve of her robe.

"It is true," Serena said finally. "This war is my doing… and I have spilled innocent blood."

She set down her candle and turned towards the three shamans. Metal clinked softly in the tense silence as her finger claws slid over her hand.

"But what you know will not save you now."

Light footsteps whispered past Elivagar before he even saw her move. Zinc reached out, but it was too late.

Nora's breath stuttered in her throat. She looked down. The three silver blades stuck out of her chest, dripping crimson onto the polished tile floor.

Serena pulled her claws from the shaman's back and shoved her to her knees. Nora choked, clutching her chest and gazing up at Zinc and Elivagar in horror. Blood ran from the corner of her mouth, staining her armor.

"That was hurt," the earthwarden gasped weakly. "Don't let her…"

Nora's weapon slipped from her hand and clattered on the floor. She swayed for a moment before collapsing. More blood flowed from the wounds and ran across the tiles, making a black puddle in the strange Light.

"She was fortunate," Serena said calmly. "When the time comes, you will wish that I had killed you here as well."

She wiped her claws on Nora's furs and walked back to the Light shrine with her candle.

"Aria, escort them back to the gates before I decide to kill another one."


	54. Do Or Die

"What's going on?" Sheema ran to the door and grabbed the handle, but Tuff dragged her back before she could get outside. "Let go! I need to see-"

"You're f***ing kidding me, right? Get back here!"

A third column of Light roared skyward, arcing over Stormwind in a blaze of golden fire. It joined with the other two above the Palace and formed a vortex that seemed to breathe in and out as it grew. Pale light seemed to radiate from every single surface around them, blinding Tuff for a few seconds until it subsided. He rubbed his eyes and hurried upstairs to the small window.

Tiny golden droplets seemed to be floating out of the storm above. They drifted across the sky and fell to the ground, but vanished when they touched down.

"We promised to help them," Sheema whispered. "The Princess warned us."

"There's nothing we can do! The gates are swarmed with acolytes. There's literally thousands of shamans outside the walls. And I don't know what the f*** is going on out there at the Palace, but I'd like to have nothing to do with it."

"Look!" Sheema pointed furiously at the Light storm outside. "See where those little dots are coming out? It's focusing on the area outside of the gates."

"So?"

"They're expecting a threat from outside. Not inside. We have a chance, but only now."

Tuff threw up his hands. "The f*** are you gonna do?"

Sheema ran back down the stairs and frantically dug around in a chest near the door. "If we can scatter the acolytes, we might be able to crack the gates. Got any of Saphyris' firebombs left?"

"Okay, no this is insane-"

Glass clinked on the ground as she set out a dozen bottles and began pouring clear oil into each one. "Just go get the others. We can do this, but we have to hurry."

"You're going to get them all killed!" Tuff grabbed her arm. "I know what the Princess said, but she didn't mention anything about that s*** up there!"

"I need to do something. Anything. We can't let Serena win this."

"No, you can't-"

"I said get the others! Move!" Sheema took out a handful of cloth scraps and plugged the top of each bottle with a makeshift wick. "Listen. You said it yourself. We're going to die no matter what happens. We're not going to be martyrs. No one is going to remember what we did, if anything."

"And?"

Sheema put down the basket of firebombs and looked him in the eye. "If I have nothing to lose, I'm going to fight. If you don't want to, I'll go alone. But I'm not gonna wait to die here."

She picked up her basket again, kicked the door open, and disappeared down the narrow street.

"For f***'s sake," Tuff muttered. He hesitated for a second, looking up at the sky, but finally grabbed his sword and followed her out.

* * *

"Hold! By the Light, hold the line you idiots!" Tiiger's furious orders echoed up and down the front line of acolytes. "We need to buy more time! Brace yourselves!"

The gates shuddered and rattled under the onslaught of boulders and earthen spikes from just outside the city limits. A chain snapped in the distance, lashing out at several of the wall guards. Bodies landed on the cobblestones in twisted, bloody heaps.

"They're almost through. I didn't think we were going to see actual combat, but it might come down to it." Beymuch looked over at Backstein, who was trying to direct some of his acolytes to maintain the gate supports. "How much longer is this going to take?"

"I don't know. The Light up there should be solid dark green. It's flickering for some reason… I don't know why it isn't consistent."

"Damn it, tell them to get back from the gate until it turns-"

The iron lattice on the inner wall suddenly shattered with a deafening crash. Earthen spikes erupted underneath the heavy doors, splitting deep cracks in the wood. The acolytes shifted back, raising their weapons cautiously. Beymuch held his breath and prayed that it would hold for a few more seconds.

"A few more hits like that, and it's down. Form up!" Backstein kicked his horse forward, trying to calm the panicking soldiers. "They will be expecting us. If you see anything coming through the o not let them get too close."

The sky lit up again, but the Light was pale green instead of gold. It had a sickly quality that made the acolytes' faces look dead and decayed.

"Almost there. Hang on." Beymuch had to keep himself from counting the seconds. "Hold the-"

"Fire! Behind the lines!"

Something arced over the assembled acolytes and shattered among their ranks. Liquid fire mixed with glass sprayed across the ground. The smell of burning hair, cloth, and flesh rose up in suffocating clouds. Screams of terror drifted back to Beymuch at the front of the contingents, but the soldiers trying to escape the spreading flames made it impossible for him to move his horse at all. More fire poured along the street, trapping the acolytes between the deadly heat and the weakened gate.

"Idiots, pull yourselves together!" Tiiger's horse reared up and the crowd swiftly parted. "Mind the gates!" Light shimmered like a halo around her, spreading gold and silver beams across the few wounded fighters.

Beymuch ducked as another flaming bottle flew over his head. "It's the warriors. The dissenters from before. They really do know how to time this s***. Where's Alanyxe? We need the support from the College!"

"I don't know. She should have been back by now. We can't count on them!"

Another volley of boulders exploded against the failing gates. The iron locks were starting to warp and twist strangely. More Light trailed overhead, flickering rapidly from white to green and back again.

"Search the wall! They're on high ground. Kill them on sight. Move, move, move!" Backstein managed to dismount and forced open one of the doors to the wall towers. "We can't fight on two fronts at once without Her Majesty supporting us with the Heart."

"I know. We need those damn mages. Fontn's a stubborn bitch."

"You don't f***ing say." Backstein scanned the area around the gates. "There! On the He's on the run! Go!"

Beymuch got off of his own horse and tried to stomp out a patch of flames still smoldering on the ground, but it only singed the sole of his boot and he gave up. "Get out of range and stay on the gates! Focus!"

As if on cue, a boulder smashed clean through the heavy wooden door, leaving a gaping hole lined with shattered iron and splinters. Lightning flashed pure white through the dim greenish haze. The acolytes shouted and backed away, trying to reorganize.

Someone shouted in the distance, and a seismic wave rumbled nearby. Beymuch looked up in time to see a warrior collapse in a pool of blood, two seconds before fire enveloped his body. Acolytes fled screaming as the heavy flames crawled up the sleeves of their armor, drowning out their attempts at spells.

Suddenly the sky went dark.

At least to Beymuch, it seemed as black as night. The Light storm stuttered and seemed to falter for a few seconds before returning to only a fraction of its former brilliance. He blinked and tried to adjust before he realized what had happened.

The glittering vortex had turned deep green. The drops emerging from it were no longer formless blobs that dissipated into the dirt when they fell. Some were uncurling and standing upright; dozens of spectral soldiers with hollow eye sockets behind intricate helmets. Through the hole in the gates, Beymuch could see the shamans hesitate and begin to fall back.

The Emerald Heart had awakened.

* * *

"Neko!" Theo pounded on her window, hoping the pyromancer was within earshot. "Get me out of here!"

She looked up at the sky outside. Trails of smoke and flame were bright and dark blurs against the chaos raging at the gates. The shamans and acolytes were as small as ants in the distance, but she could see the terrifying storm swirling over the Palace perfectly well.

The walls of her cell trembled suddenly. Screams echoed through the floor. Theo swore to herself and pushed at the sealed door again. It didn't budge, just like the other times she had tried it. Naebula was laying on its cot and doing whatever passed for sleeping or rest in a void monster. It probably wasn't going to be of any help.

The Light suddenly shifted color, turning dark green in the blink of an eye. Theo was blinded for a second at the loss of its brightness, but she covered her eyes and peeked through her fingers when her eyes had adjusted. Particles seemed to be drifting out of the core of the storm, floating gently over the wall towers and into the battle at the gates. A few were falling into the city itself, but she couldn't see any details.

One landed in the street nearby. Theo peered at it, trying to figure out what it was. The Light seemed to grow and change until it formed a roughly human figure, armored, helmeted, and wielding a spectral broadsword. As she watched, a warrior came rushing down the path. A seismic wave spell shook the ground, but it passed harmlessly through the Light figure. It sidestepped the man's clumsy swing and drove its own blade through his back. A gold aura outlined the warrior's body for a split second, and then he dissolved into thin air.

Theo clapped her hands to her eyes and slid down the wall, shaking in terror. This was the power of Light unleashed, in the hands of the Daughter of the House. She had never felt so helpless.

" _Oh my_." Naebula's emotionless voice cut through her panic. She whirled around and saw it stretching nonchalantly in front of the window. " _We do seem to have a situation here_."

"Do something!" Theo squeaked. "Is- is there anything that can- can you… I don't know…"

" _I will wait for your incoherent babbling to turn into a clear order_."

"Naebula… I- I- just- do something to make it stop!" Theo stammered. "What even… what is-"

The void monster looked up and down the street, scratching its chin. " _It would appear that some kind of Light artifact is being used to summon spectres. I did not know the House still possessed this capability. It requires great power and focus to do so. Perhaps I have underestimated the Daughter."_

"Are you saying th- there's nothing you can do?"

" _I am quite certain that those words did not ever leave my mouth_ ," said Naebula petulantly. " _Hopefully your emotional distress has not destroyed your limited brain_."

"Stop giving me attitude and tell me what our options are!" Theo yelled. "People are dying out there!"

" _You have only one option. Either remove my chain, or resign yourself to watch the city burn around you. If you truly want me to… 'do something'… I will need all of the power at my disposal to permanently disable the storm alone_."

 **COMMUNITY DECISION: Remove Naebula's silver chain.**


	55. The Unhealed Wounds

"You've got to be kidding me," Theo hissed. She looked out the window, then back to the void monster. "Is that really the only way?"

The monster shrugged as if it didn't matter. " _Well, you did ask me to do something. I am trying to do it. Unfortunately it comes with a condition_."

"You're not gonna kill me, right?"

" _Would you prefer that I kill you, or would you like to die when the Daughter finally gets her specters under control_?"

"Fine! Fine! I get it." Theo looked outside again and tried to measure the drop to the ground from the window. It was much too far to jump. "Just get me out of here alive, okay?"

" _Remove the chain. Then we will see about getting out_."

Theo took a deep breath and sent a brief prayer to whatever deity was listening, then grabbed the silver cup, pulled the chain over the creature's head, and tossed it aside.

The effect was immediate, and terrifying.

A horrible roar shook the cell. She covered her ears and shrank back into a corner. The monster's human skin seemed to stretch upwards, and the body splintered and crumbled away, dissolving into plates of smoky black armor that unfolded like an insect's exoskeleton. The gold-stained bones were still visible at the joints, but the face was unrecognizable. The purple eyes warped and bulged outwards, the nose shrank, and the jaw unhinged to reveal a terrible gaping maw lined with dozens of needle-like fangs.

" _Hmm. That is much better_."

Theo couldn't bring herself to make any noise louder than a tiny strangled squeak. It was almost three times taller than she was, and its curved claws were longer than her arms.

" _Get up. I need your help. Try to find a weak point in the memetic restraining field_."

"You- I- what?"

One of the claws prodded her arm. " _Look for an area where the energy is less intense… oh. Wait. We may have a problem here._ "

Something thumped quietly nearby. Theo blinked and clung to the wall so that she could stand. "What?"

" _That mage girl is outside. I believe she intends to try and kill us both. If you can avoid dying, she might let us out more easily_."

"Neko!" Theo scrambled to the door and pounded on it. "It's okay! I'm okay! We need to get out!"

The metal surface blazed red with heat and she jumped away before it could burn her. "Neko?"

"Stand back." The pyromancer's voice was shaky and terrified. "I saw you let it loose."

"You have bigger problems right now! Just open the door, and let us out. No one needs to get hurt."

" _I can kill her_ ," Naebula said quietly. " _Let her come through_."

"You are not killing her!" Theo snapped at it. "Neko, listen to me! I took the chain off so that it can shut down whatever is going on at the Palace. We need to get there before it gets worse."

" _Convince her more quickly please_ ," Naebula growled. It paced around the cell and clawed at the walls, leaving deep marks in the wallpaper and wood. " _We are extremely far from the Palace, and I am not a very fast runner, at least not by the standards of my kind_."

"I can't let you out!" Neko's fire died down, leaving the door slightly singed but still firmly closed. "The College is under siege, and all the exits are… well, you wouldn't be able to leave alive or intact. Besides, you're safer here!"

"We can help!" Theo shouted. "Please! We don't have time!"

" _Diplomacy and efficiency are clearly not strengths of yours_ ," the monster remarked. It poked at the window again and tilted its head slightly. " _Oh… hmm. Come here_."

"What-"

The monster's claws closed around her waist. Before Theo could even scream, it slammed its other fist straight through the glass with a resounding crash. The restraining field sparked violently and died in a ripple of bluish light.

" _Brace yourself_."

It leaped from the cell window in a rush of cool air that whipped Theo's hood back from her face. She screamed and shut her eyes as the ground surged up to meet her. But there was no deadly impact, only a jolt that knocked the air out of her lungs.

She blinked, realized she was standing on solid ground, and nearly fell over again. They were in a narrow residential street lined with choked gutters and filthy puddles of water dripping from the downspouts. The roof of the Palace was visible past the narrow houses, but she couldn't see anything else.

" _That was not so bad, was it?"_ The creature was straightening up and looking up at the sky again. _"I need you to get inside. Find shelter anywhere dark, and do not even light a candle or torch. They will find you if you do_."

"Wait!" Theo reached for its hand without thinking and her fingers closed around one of the sharp claws. Icy pain shot through her arm and she pulled away with a gasp. Her hand was covered in blood from a straight clean gash that crossed her entire hand.

" _Yes... I can hurt you now_." Naebula curled its claws away from Theo and looked at her strangely. " _What is it_?"

"What are you going to do?"

" _The Light and the Void are perfect opposites. The slight presence of one will restrain the other, but an equally powerful interaction between them will neutralize both. The summoning artifact in use right now seems to be something small and perhaps a little unstable. I can exploit the vulnerability and keep the effects in check_."

"That's going to kill you," Theo whispered.

" _Eventually, yes_."

Her eyes stung unexpectedly and she coughed to clear the ache in her throat. "Are you sure this is the only way?"

" _Silly mage_." It looked down at her with a gentler look in its eyes than before. " _My debt to you is paid_."

"But-"

" _Hush_." It turned away and glanced up and down the street. " _Stay safe. Do not come out until you are certain it is all over_. _This will take some time_."

Before she could say anything else, it sprinted down the cobblestone road, almost too quickly to be seen. It dug its claws into a brick window sill and scaled the wall before leaping up to the roof and vanishing in the distance.

She looked around and tried the handle on the nearest door. It was locked with a bolt and chain, but she managed to force her hand through the crack and undo it from the outside. Theo locked the door again and peered into the darkened home. There was a small bed arranged in an even smaller alcove in the wall. She curled up in it and finally let her tears fall.

* * *

Panda stared up at the ceiling of her tiny room and twisted the blankets in her hands. Aunt Serena had stormed back into the fortified chamber a few hours ago and the look on her face had warned both sisters to stay very far away. Even the Queensguard were keeping their distance.

The Light radiating from the shrine was visible under her door, greener than the trees outside of the Palace. It was Panda's favorite color in the springtime when the new leaves sprouted up to cover the bare dirt of the winter garden beds. But this green wasn't comforting or alive. It felt oddly heavy and overbearing, weighing down the air until it was almost hard to breathe.

Panda got up and left her little room again to peek out into the main area. Kara was sitting outside her own door, wrapped in a blanket with her sword laying across her lap. She looked half asleep, but she turned around when she heard Panda. "Are you okay?"

"I think so. Are you seeing… you know, the visions she warned us about?"

Kara shrugged and rubbed her eyes. "I don't know. I feel weird though. Kinda like I'm standing in a big crowd, but there's no one here."

Panda nodded absently and sat down next to her. Aunt Serena was still standing at the Light shrine in a column of green energy that swirled around her like a hurricane. A dull rushing sound faded in and out in time with the pulsing Light. At first it sounded like a strong wind, but the longer Panda listened, the more it sounded like countless thousands of running footsteps.

"I've never seen anything like this," Kara whispered. "Zinc told me about it though. He called it the Emerald Heart."

"They used it to wipe out the shamans during the founding of Stormwind. I know." Panda looked up into the Light and tried to discern one of the spinning shapes, but it was moving too quickly and she gave up. "And now it's going to happen again."

Kara sniffled and brushed her sleeve across her eyes. "There wasn't anything we could do about this, was there?"

"I don't think so." Panda tried to remember what Zinc had said to her before he had left. "I just… I thought there was a chance. For us."

The Light suddenly flickered and winked out completely. Darkness flooded the entire chamber. Panda couldn't see a thing, not even her own hands in front of her face. She fought the urge to panic and reached for her sister's hand instead.

"What… what is happening," Serena muttered distractedly. "This should have remained… what?"

The vortex blazed back to life, a thousand times brighter than before. It seared Panda's eyes and she gasped in pain, burying her face in her arms. Phantasmic red afterimages blinked back and forth behind her eyelids.

"It's overheating… I can't control it. Damn it, what's going on?!" Serena shouted. "Obey me!"

A strange sound echoed from the pillar of Light. Panda summoned the courage to peek at the spectacle through her fingers. Someone seemed to be emerging from the storm, shining brighter than anything else in the room. She could see the outlines of a hand, then an arm and a shoulder. The figure stepped fully out of the Light, facing Serena, and the sound grew closer and clearer. It was laughter.

"Who are you?" Serena demanded. The specter's brilliance was so powerful that even she seemed to be looking away. "What is happening?"

The laughter trailed off and the figure tilted its head, reaching out a translucent hand to the furious Queen.

" _Did you truly think the dead had no claim to your soul… sister_?"


	56. Atonement

"This," Heatran said, "may be the worst idea you've ever had."

"Are you kidding? This is great! We won't even have to do anything. Just sit back and watch the carnage." Zech pushed at a carved wall panel, opening a hidden cabinet that held several wooden boxes.

"Okay, so I just repackaged these the other day. There's about thirty rounds of ammunition each for two turrets that get loaded through the back. Hmm, okay, this needs a tripwire. I hope this isn't too sensitive. Wasn't sure how much extra I'd need to make the knots, and I kinda just guessed when I cut a piece."

"Why did I come with you? Why did I think this was a good idea?"

"You're f***ing insane," Sheer agreed in an odd mix of admiration and awe.

"That's subjective, and somewhat offensive." Zech ran a length of thick copper wire across the hallway, popped a switch out of the wall carvings on the other side, and tied it off. "Go through that cabinet. There's a passage that goes to the backs of the turrets, and you can load them up. Careful not to break the glass on the capsules. I don't think I can save both of you if it gets to your lungs."

Heatran's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "What is this?!"

"Three compartments. Two forms of chlorine and ammonia in the last one. The glass separates the chemicals until the capsule gets fired. When it breaks, the reaction is pretty quick. It won't kill them at this concentration, but it'll spray hydrazine in a pretty big radius and they'll start coughing, maybe pass out. More people will rush up to drag them out of the way." Zech pointed to the patch of purple floor tiles beneath them. "After I release the catch, enough weight on this area will cause the floor to swing down. The drop is two hundred feet into the Maze of Regret. I think it'll be enough."

"The WHAT?"

"Oh, damn, you've never been down there, have you?" Zech pushed the switch back down until it clicked into the wall and pulled the tripwire taut. "S***, remind me to show you sometime. It's awesome. There's all these old bones, and a whole separate ecosystem that I've never seen outside of Stormwind. Eyeless fish, glowing eels, stuff like that."

"That's… awesome?"

"Yes! Come on, let's get that locked and loaded. We need to keep moving-"

A massive explosion shook the hallway. Dust rained down over the three cryomancers and rattled bits of plaster out of the walls.

"What the f*** was that?!" Heatran bellowed. He looked behind them and saw a cloud of billowing black smoke accompanied by the cries of burning acolytes.

"That's our signal to get the f*** out of here," said Zech calmly. He dragged Sheer out of the cabinet, slammed the door, and hauled both of the cryos away from the sound. "One of my guys was absolutely convinced he could get the Angel of Death up and running… I have to find them before we close the blast doors. How far are we?"

Sheer looked up and down the hallway. "Too far. I can see the acolytes coming up."

"Fire if you can. Don't hit that goddamn tripwire. Are we cleared from the purple tiles? I want to prime this before we go any farther."

"Cleared," Heatran snapped. He raised his frostbite and shot a volley of bolts towards the battalion. Frost tangled around their feet, slowing their progress, but not stopping them. "I'm too far away to do anything. Sheer, either help me or kill yourself right now."

"Wow! I've been helping! Goddamn." Sheer waved smoke out of his face and rubbed his eyes. "Ow. Are they hitting the crushers yet?"

"Right about… there."

Two iron weights erupted from the walls on either side of the invaders, slamming closed with deadly speed and force. Bone crunched, blood spurted, and the screams of shock and terror were silenced in seconds.

"Beautiful," said Zech fervently. "Absolutely beautiful."

"You're making me really uncomfortable," Heatran muttered.

"You'll get over it. Let's go, we gotta get to the doors." Zech nudged them both forward. "Scoot. Come on. Oh boy, okay, we really need to run."

"What?" Heatran scowled at the sound of even more footsteps at the east wing entrance.

"Two more contingents coming up. That first one was a suicide run." Zech broke into a sprint and the other cryomancers followed. "There's getting smarter."

"Wait." Sheer pulled him to a halt. "Can we get them all onto that swinging floor plate?"

"That's fifty people, I don't know if it can-"

"We can freeze them to the floor long enough to get the weight on it, and the gas will help." Sheer's face lit up with something that didn't look particularly pleasant. "I'm going back."

"No, don't- oh for god's sake." Zech wiped at his forehead and gestured helplessly at the other cryomancer who was racing back towards the trapped floor. "We're going back apparently."

"I'm not dying for him," Heatran growled, but he followed the other two, raising his weapon cautiously. Frostbolts burst on the tiles up ahead, but none of the acolytes showed any sign of slowing down.

"They can see it. I can't seem to land a hit." Sheer tracked a pair of acolytes as they ducked around the charred bomb crater and struck one in the chest with a bolt. White ice spread across the soldier's chestplate like a spider web, and he collapsed. "Zech, anything you can throw at them?"

"I already put up everything I know!" Zech glared at him and aimed a few frostbolts of his own."Get back. We just need them to trip the turrets."

"Well try something you don't know!" Sheer retreated and glanced at the walls around them.

"How am I supposed to do something I don't know if I don't know it?"

"I don't know!"

"Yeah, you're helping, all right." Heatran looked behind them. The blast doors were closer than they had been before, and the acolytes were climbing over the spent crusher plates. "They're almost in position. I'm pretty sure they know there's something up here."

"Aim for their feet. We need to lure them forward and distract them."

More bolts streaked through the air and shattered on the tile. The front row of acolytes stumbled and fell, tangled in bands of frost, but the ones behind them kept coming.

"On my mark, we're all going to turn and run. Got it?" Sheer elbowed Heatran in the ribs.

"Yeah, I'm sure you're great at running."

"F*** off, I'm serious. They need to think they have an advantage. Ready?"

The contingents were almost at the slight line that marked the beginning of the purple tiles.

"Let's go."

Sheer pretended to panic and backed away, nearly tripping himself over the hem of his own robes before Heatran dragged him upright. The trio raced away from the approaching acolytes, and he heard one of the commanders shout something, then a pounding of running footsteps behind them.

Something clicked and ground noisily. Wood panels grated out of the way. Both turrets emerged from the wall and spit thirty rounds of chemical ammunition into the leading battalion. Glass shattered and a foul stinging odor reached Heatran's nose.

The acolytes shouted in panic and scrambled to get away, but the gas was taking its toll already. The first of many hacking coughs was echoing across the walls, and Heatran could see a fine mist of blood spraying from an acolyte's mouth as the poison ate away at his lungs.

"…get us out of here… need to regroup…"

The second squadron ran up to help them. The unharmed acolytes covered their faces and grabbed the limbs of the fallen to pull them to safety, just before it happened.

The purple tiles tilted slightly, groaning on ancient hinges, and then fell cleanly apart from the center. Both sides swung down in an instant. There was a chorus of piercing screams, and a horrible crack of breaking bone that echoed up into the hallway from below. Heatran caught a brief glimpse of a hand stretching up to safety before it vanished in the depths of the pit. The sound of splashing water and more screams floated up to them and he resisted the urge to cover his ears.

Even Sheer seemed to be speechless.

"Wow." Zech tiptoed up to the edge and peered down. "Well, that'll keep the eels fed for a while. It's really ecologically friendly, you know."

"Because that's the important part of what just happened, right?" Heatran asked in disbelief.

"Knew you'd understand." Zech clapped him on the shoulder and wandered off, whistling a tune.

* * *

Kara felt as if she had been paralyzed, looking up at the shimmering spirit. The power flowing around the room was electrifying. Every hair on her head felt like it was moving on its own. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the aunt she had never met, who looked so much like Serena, and yet so different.

" _You fool_ ," Lucy whispered. Her voice sounded as if she was speaking directly into Kara's ear. " _Blind was your life… and blind will be your death_."

"I am the Daughter of the House!" Serena screamed. "You cannot kill me! I wield the Heart, not you! I command you to leave this place-"

" _You are right. I cannot kill you, though you would richly deserve it now. But I can hurt you… and I can deny you the victory you thought you could claim_."

"Lies!" Every cord stood out on Serena's scarred hand, which shook violently. Black blood ran from her nose and around the corner of her mouth. "I… control you-"

Lucy flicked her hand imperiously and the power surged up like a terrible ocean wave. Serena was thrown across the room, away from the Light shrine, and struck the wall face-first, leaving a bloody streak where she slid down and collapsed on the floor.

The spirit turned her glittering head to look at Kara, and her pale blue eyes seemed to pierce straight through her heart. The weight of her gaze pressed like a great rock on Kara's chest. It was almost impossible to breathe.

Then the pressure lifted and a slight smile touched Lucy's lips. Kara gasped for air as the spirit reached for her hand and the Light brushed straight through her skin like a warm summer breeze.

" _How clever of you_ ," Lucy whispered. " _Yes… I can see what you did. Are you prepared to take her crown_?"

"No," Kara whimpered.

" _If you survive… you will be ready_."

Kara wanted to ask what she meant, but Lucy was already moving away towards the now-abandoned Light shrine.

" _Where are you, child? Have you lost yourself in the chaos_?"

Another hand emerged from the Light column, but faltered and groped back and forth as if looking for something to hold.

" _There you are_." Lucy drifted towards the new spirit and gripped its forearm, pulling it free from the imprisoning Light. It was a man wearing a horned helmet and battle-scarred armor, with a shining broadsword in his free hand.

" _Stupid woman, taking a warrior's soul. I could have told her that they cannot be controlled in this way_." Lucy gestured towards the back of the chamber. " _If the Ministers attempt to return to the castle, destroy them and allow the shamans to enter the Palace. I cannot give you your life back, Axoy… but I can give you revenge._ "

The man tried to speak, but Kara couldn't hear any words inside a strange rushing like strong wind.

" _I know. I am sorry for what happened_."

His figure seemed oddly distorted when he moved, but he seemed to run straight through the heavy iron doors and vanished behind them.

" _Warriors_ ," Lucy muttered. " _I have never understood them_." She turned her gaze to Jaka, who was kneeling and looking up at her in shock.

"I'm sorry," he managed to say.

" _It was not your fault._ _Don't blame yourself for what she did_."

"I should have-"

" _You did what you had to do_." Lucy tried to reach out and touch his face, but her hand only passed through him and she shook her head in frustration. " _I told you before. Death was a gift for me_."

"Did you confess?"

Lucy's laughter had a bitter edge. " _I had nothing to do with the warrior girl who found the Tomb. Serena executed her and one of the mages. I told the other two to flee Stormwind. That was all_."

"She murdered you. You were innocent…"

" _Only of that_." Lucy's eyes met Kara's again and she shrank back. " _I tore my family apart. I let my own brother die without seeing me. I neglected the House and my duties as part of the Bloodline_." She stepped around the Light shrine and looked at her sister's crumpled form. " _I have no more illusions about who I was. We have wronged each other… but I believe you can make it right_."

Jaka dug the point of his sword into the carpet and raked the blade across the floor. "I can't break my oaths. You know that."

" _But you can now_." Lucy pointed to the unconscious Queen. " _She swore to you that I would live if I was innocent, yet she killed me out of pure spite. As she betrayed you… so now you may betray her_."

Kara's heart beat so quickly, it felt as if it was going to burst. They were free. She had to run, or hide, anything-

" _What is happening…_ " Lucy's form seemed to shiver and fall apart for a second before snapping back together. " _I… I am being called to return- but how_?"

She touched her own chest and frowned at the Light shrine. " _What is this_?"

Black lines were spiraling down from the high ceiling, enveloping the column of Light energy in darkness. A new sound overwhelmed the sound of marching footsteps- a single pure haunting note that rang through the room until Kara could feel the music vibrating inside her skull.

"What…? No…" Serena was slowly getting to her feet again, gripping the Emerald Heart in one hand and the wall with the other. "This cannot be happening! I have not allowed you to leave-"

Light was pouring off of Lucy's face and shoulders, blurring her features until she was only a glowing silhouette in the middle of the room. " _The void is singing to me, sister. To all of us that you summoned. You can hear it too_."

"No!" Serena rushed back to the shrine and desperately grabbed the candle. "You will remain until I send you back! The Heart answers to me alone!"

" _There are powers greater than you, sister_ ," Lucy whispered. " _A cruelly-timed lesson for you to learn_. _We will not answer you again._ " She stretched out the remains of her hand to Jaka one last time. " _Avenge me. I will wait for you..._ "

The Light blazed up one last time, pure white energy that burned straight through Kara's closed eyelids. She cried out and covered her face, seeing the outlines of her own bones through her skin, and then total darkness.

When she lowered her hands, Lucy was gone, and the Light had gone with her.

She could feel Panda clinging to her arm, burying her face in Kara's shoulder, and shaking like a dry leaf in the wind. Tiny sobs shook her entire body, and Kara squeezed her sister's hand tightly, trying to reassure her.

A torch flared up nearby. Serena seemed to have been knocked off her feet again, and was hanging onto the Light shrine for support.

And the Honor-Bound Queensguard, no longer bound, stood over her with drawn blades, ready to strike.


	57. The Reckoning

It was over in an instant. The ghostly greenish army of resurrected paladins seemed to freeze in place. Black tendrils raced across their bodies, swallowing them up into thin air. A few seconds ago, the battlefield had been covered with their troops, but now nothing stood between the shattered gates of Stormwind and the invading army.

"Regroup!" one of the shamans was shouting. Beymuch was almost paralyzed with shock. He quickly looked around for the other troop leaders, but they were just as horrified.

"What's happening?" Backstein yelled. "Where did they go?"

Tiiger pointed with a shaking hand at the roof of the Palace. "Gone, just a few seconds ago. I don't understand…"

The radiant green pillars of Light were fading quickly. The cloudy sky calmed and began to drift apart, revealing starry clarity and the half moon.

"We can't do this," Tiiger muttered. "Not without her. They still outnumber us, and the warriors have us cut off from behind."

The shamans were reforming their battle lines. Beymuch could see flashes of white lightning streaking across the field. The ground rumbled menacingly as earthen spikes raced underneath the trampled ground, and the remnants of the city gates splintered and collapsed. Acolytes' bodies choked the entire length of the breach with blood and remains.

"We tried," Tiiger whispered. Hopeless tears made clean tracks through the dirt and blood on her face. "Let them remember that we tried-"

* * *

"So where's your team?" Sheer asked. The three cryomancers wrenched open the bolts on the steel blast doors and started undoing the rest of the security. Heatran spun the combination locks as quickly as he could, keeping one eye on the other end of the east wing where the acolytes had managed to get in.

"I told them to wait for me at the Angel of Death. Hopefully they're still there and everything's okay." The doors finally creaked open and Zech shuffled sideways through the tiny space, taking a left down the first hall. "I can see the courtyard… where are they?" Every white and blue passage looked exactly the same, and the only light came from the sculpture garden in the center.

"Zech. Hey! Psst."

"Guys? You okay over here?" Zech called.

"Shhhh!" A face and a hand poked around the corner and waved at him to be quiet. "Come here."

"Found 'em. Come on." Zech tiptoed up to the hiding mage. "Morken. Everything okay?"

"Wheat actually got the Angel of Death reconnected, and there's some acolytes in there. I think they got sidetracked when the others were trying to dodge the traps. It's only like ten people, but they were chasing Fioren. She's stuck in there too."

"I thought she was with the others at the front!" Zech looked around and quickly crouched down next to Morken. "Oh gods. Is that her right there with Wheat?"

"Yeah, she's hiding in that little decorative garden hut in the front there. Wheat is trying to talk to her through the glass, but it's only a matter of time until they find her."

"F***. Okay. Where is everyone else right now?"

"Dtron is on the other side of the dome, and Ethelaez is on lever duty up in the roof. We were trying to think of a way to get Fioren out before activating it, but there's nothing we can do right now."

Zech pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. "All right. If Fioren shields up, she should have enough clean air to block out most of the effects. Seal the door to the courtyard. We're doing this. Wheat! Tell her to shield!"

The girl nodded and pantomimed casting a shield in front of her face. Something moved in the glass and a little purple glow sparked up behind it.

"Alright, it's party time. Hit it!"

The courtyard doors swung closed. Metal bars slid across the edges, locking them securely. Pipes rumbled above them, and clouds of something that looked like silver dust began drifting from the air vents in the roof. Heatran could see the trapped acolytes looking up and frowning as the substance reached them.

"I don't think I can watch this," Sheer mumbled.

"You sure? It's not a big deal. Really doesn't look like much from out here," Zech reassured him.

"Uh… okay, I'll stay."

One by one, the acolytes seemed to fall completely still. Their shoulders slumped, their eyes unfocused, and one of them dropped her weapon. They looked around as if they had forgotten where they were.

"Fioren could probably get out now if I could open the doors. They're not paying attention." Zech walked out to the dome and tapped on the glass. None of them noticed. "But… ugh, I can't risk this stuff getting to us out here. It spreads fast."

An acolyte suddenly began to trudge towards the center of the courtyard. The others followed suit. Heatran had never really seen many of the statues inside it, but the one they were focusing on was clearly the masterpiece of the collection: ten feet tall and sculpted from glittering white marble.

It was an angel.

The first acolyte reached out and gripped the angel's outstretched hand, looking up at it with blank eyes. Soon all of them were crowded around the statue, milling around aimlessly and clutching the hem of its carved robes and the edges of its wings.

Sheer was starting to fidget nervously. "Is this it? What's wrong with them?"

"Wait for it."

Dtron appeared from around the other side of the dome and rejoined his other teammates. "I needed a better view," he explained and sat down next to Morken.

They kept waiting but nothing happened.

"Is it not working?" Zech called. "We could just go in there and kill them if we have to."

"The panel says it's on..." There were several metallic thumps as Ethelaez punched something from his spot in the roof. "Oh. Yeah, now it's on. This connection's kinda jury-rigged together. Sorry about that."

Thousands of tiny bluish lights flickered to life, casting a soft glow inside the dome. The acolytes seemed to be talking, but Heatran couldn't hear anything from outside the glass. Some of them looked distressed, but they were still caught in the strange trance.

Suddenly one of them raised his weapon. Heatran and Sheer flinched, but he didn't attack. An indescribable look passed over his face, and he sank the blade into his own chest without hesitating.

" _WHAT IN THE NAME OF_ -"

Blood splashed the statue, making a bright crimson stain on the white stone. Another acolyte drew a dagger from his belt and slit his throat, collapsing onto the mossy ground.

"How…"

More acolytes fell dead, with their own bloodstained blades in their hands. The last one had no weapon, but simply undid her armor, dug her fingers into her own throat, and tore it out. Blood pulsed from the wound as she held out the gory chunk of flesh like an offering to the statue, and then sank to the ground with the rest.

There was a moment of shocked silence before Zech's team exploded in cheers and clapping. Wheat ran into a side room and came out with a dust-covered pyromancer beaming from ear to ear.

"You did it! Oh my gods, I'm so proud of you." Zech scooped up Wheat in a bear hug and set her down. "She worked! Come here, you guys are geniuses!"

Everyone hugged and clapped while Sheer and Heatran watched, speechless.

"Uh… Fioren is still stuck in there," Sheer murmured. "Might want to…"

"Oh, right." Zech knocked on the glass and looked around inside the dome. "Okay, let's get some fresh air in here and open the doors. I think she's feeling a little funny."

For the first time, Heatran could hear muffled screams of terror from the trapped cryomancer.

Ethelaez hurried back into the control room and threw a lever. The pipes rattled as the ventilation system kicked in again, and the cloud of silvery dust suspended in the dome was sucked away. The bars over the doors clanked apart and slowly unsealed. The air from the inside had a sweet but nauseating smell, like rotted roses.

Zech and Dtron hurried inside, pried the hut door open, and helped Fioren out of the courtyard. Her skin was an odd shade of grey, and she was shaking and crying.

"Heard voices… it was talking to me…" she sobbed. "I saw things… couldn't stop…"

"It isn't real; it was all in your head. It's okay."

"They just…" Fioren curled up against the wall and put her hands over her eyes. "Just… just go."

"I'll tell Cthuko to come pick her up later," Zech said awkwardly. "He's probably been really worried about her."

"He's gonna be more worried when he sees her like this," Heatran snapped. "Look at her for f***'s sake. She's f***ing traumatized."

Zech waved him away. "It's a side effect of being around me. Do you think we should leave the bodies here? The moss needed fertilizer like six months ago and I was totally avoiding it."

* * *

A second before the blades reached her chest, Serena managed to roll to her feet and raise the hand that still held the Emerald Heart. Green light flashed out like a whip, throwing both warriors away from her, clear across the room. Bone crunched horribly and both of them lay in still heaps against the wall.

"I will not… tolerate insubordination," Serena gasped. She wiped at her face and leaned against a pillar for support. Kara had to cover her mouth to keep from screaming. Blood caked her cheek and chin, and her eyes were wild with rage.

Something crashed down in the distance, rattling the walls. Serena looked up as the iron doors burst open and Aria rushed inside, bloody and disheveled, clutching a deep wound in her stomach. Lightning burn marks crossed her face and arms.

"Aria, what are you doing inside-"

"They're dead. They're all dead. Kakapos bled out before I could get help. Alanyxe and her troops were killed at the College. Beymuch and Backstein couldn't hold the gate... The rest of the acolytes are being hunted in the streets."

"They got in?" Serena demanded. "Is the Palace still sealed-"

"They're at the doors!" Aria sobbed. "What's happening-"

The point of a ruby thorn exploded from her chest in a shower of blood. Aria's eyes widened in horror and she fell to the ground. Kara tried to peer around the shrine to see who had attacked her, but the hall was too dim to see. Serena blinked in shock as a barrage of frostbolts streaked through the air.

Most of them flew wide, missing everyone in the vicinity. But one struck Serena's wrist, directly over her scar. She let out a scream of pain as ice shards shredded her pale skin, splattering blood across the carpet. The Emerald Heart flew from her grip and skittered away into a corner of the room.

Something blue and grey sprinted down the hall. Serena tried to raise her claws but the person tackled her back down to the ground. Both warriors were still unconscious on the other side of the room.

Freezing breath enveloped both combatants in a white haze. Kara grabbed Panda, peeled her off of her arm, and stuffed her back into her room. She doubted that her sister could use a sword in her state of mind, or even stand up by herself. Kara crouched down behind the Light shrine and tried to catch her own breath.

The mage stumbled back, bleeding from three horizontal slashes across her chest. Light glittered around Serena as the frostbolt cuts healed over and vanished. Her claws were tinged with red.

"Impossible," she muttered, frowning at the girl. "I killed them all…"

"You wished." Ice swirled and spread over her strange armor. "I am Icelyn, Aitriah's sister. You bartered her life for your crown."

"Who?" Serena wiped her claws and took a step back. "There were so many maids, dear. And their screams all sounded the same."

"You murdered her!" Another frostbolt struck the carpet and exploded. "You thought you could use her to force Luc to give you the crown!"

"That stupid little girl?" Serena snapped at her. "The crown would have been mine with or without her. She was only a means to an end. Now unless you wish to join her, I will let you run away if you choose."

"I have nothing left!" Icelyn screamed. "You took everything from me!"

Metal clicked on metal as Serena's claws extended again and glittered in the torchlight. "But I gave you more than enough chance to leave, child."

The cryo's hand on her ruby thorn was shaking. Kara held her breath, too terrified to make any sound at all. The two simply watched each other from across the hall and did not move.

Icelyn suddenly charged. Frost rushed across her skin, forming a glittering shield. Serena let her come closer, tracking the girl as she raised her spear and fired off another round of bolts that shattered harmlessly to the side. When she was within arm's reach, Serena blocked her clumsy strike, grabbed her by the wrist, and twisted it viciously. There was a gruesome crunch as her wrist broke. The ruby thorn fell from her grip.

"No…" Icelyn tried to pull away, but Serena grabbed her by the throat with her free hand. Her claws strained against Icelyn's shield, directly over her face. Light blazed up around her as the silver ice and golden power tore at each other, fighting for control.

A tiny crack opened up in Icelyn's spell. Bits of frost crumbled away and vanished under Serena's blades. She let out a final scream of terror and rage as the shield exploded into pieces and the claws sank into her eyes with a horrible tearing squelch. The cryomancer went limp. Blood ran down her cheeks and over her neck.

"You should have died a long time ago," Serena remarked. "Better late than never." She kicked the body away. "I need to find-"

Purple light flashed behind her. A ground slam ripped through the carpet, knocking Serena face-first into a column. She let out a snarl of fury, raising her claw hand. For a moment, her eyes met Kara's, and she cowered down under the Light shrine.

"Traitor!" Serena roared. "You swore to obey me!"

Kara thought her aunt was talking to her, but she had forgotten who else was in the room.

"Only to a point." Jaka was watching the furious Queen like a hawk about to strike. "I know you forgot. You never saw anyone as more than what they could do for you. She was nothing to you, but she was everything to me."

"That stupid bitch-"

"I loved her. I loved her and you murdered her for a crime she never committed." Something odd was happening to his hand. Black lines were racing up his skin like burn marks, tracing his veins up his neck and over his face. His eyes seemed to flicker, from brown to white to blue and finally pure red. "Lucy was right. You were blind."

Dark red haze like a mist of blood seemed to surround him a second before Serena lunged at him. The seismic wave tossed her away like a ragdoll and the columns shook and groaned under the impact. Kara held her breath, too terrified to move a muscle as chunks of the ceiling fell and shattered around them. Light energy flared up, then was snuffed out as the berserker's fury overwhelmed it.

Kara couldn't watch. She buried her face in her hands, choking for air in a room that seemed like it was suddenly closing in on her. But she could hear everything- ringing blows as the strikes were parried, the echoing crash as spells rippled across the floor, and a choked scream of agony that died away into silence.

The seconds that followed were the longest that Kara had ever felt.

She gritted her teeth and tried to breathe. Serena would come for her next. She needed her sword, but most of all, she needed to run. Bracing herself, Kara peeked out from behind the shrine.

There were two still bodies on the shattered floor. Bloodstained chunks of foundation were scattered across the room, blocking most of her view, but she could see platinum blonde hair clotted with red, and she knew it was over.

She was safe. Panda was safe. Kara dropped her sword as tears began to pour down her face. She was shaking uncontrollably, out of terror and relief and exhaustion all combined into one unbearable feeling that threatened to crush her to the ground.

"Princess…"

Kara screamed and stumbled back. Jaka was still alive, but barely. The carpet was drenched with blood from a crosshatch of terrible slashes across his entire body. Consecrate burns covered every unmarked inch of his skin with charred blisters, and his left arm hung at an odd angle by a few ragged strips of muscle.

"Bring me the Heart. Hurry."

She wasn't sure if she remembered where it was, but she ran to the corner where she had last seen it and frantically poked around. It was coated in dirt and blood until it almost blended in with the rest of the stones. Kara shut her eyes and dropped it into his remaining hand.

"Now hide. Do not come out, no matter what happens."

She backed away as fast as she could towards her little safe room. Panda's door was still shut and sealed. As she ran inside, she glanced back one more time. The Emerald Heart, shining defiantly through the blood that coated it, lay on the carpet. Jaka raised his sword and brought the hilt down on the stone.

Green light raged up in a terrible blinding surge of heat and power. A glittering shockwave exploded through the room, shaking every surface to its foundations. Kara's door slammed shut, throwing her backwards into the wall behind her. Her head struck the stone in a burst of pain and darkness.

A thunderous crack echoed through the room. Kara covered her ears and curled into a terrified ball, looking up at the ceiling of her little space. Dust poured down from the beams, and tiny chunks of mortar broke loose and rolled across the floor.

Something crashed down against her door, denting the iron. The ground shook under her feet. More crashes followed, scattering debris over the tiny space. It was deafening and Kara couldn't even hear her own screams.

The last thing she saw was one of the ceiling beams falling from above, and heavy black fog that covered her vision like a curtain.

* * *

"Retreat! Hurry!"

The shamans surrounding the Palace looked up in stunned horror. Cracks were spreading up the walls like spider webs, circling the columns and crumbling the stained glass. Chunks of ceiling tiles and bits of statuary began to fall to the ground, shattering on the cobblestone steps.

"Run!" Elivagar grabbed Lily's arm and tried to haul her away, but she shook her head and said something that he couldn't hear her over the noise.

"What?"

"Icelyn is in there!" Mag shouted. He and Lily bolted back towards the shattered doors. "We have to-"

"She's gone Mag! Get out…"

A huge piece of broken pillar silenced his response. Bloodstained marble chips sprayed across the stones as both earthwardens vanished under the torrent. Elivagar could only stare in shock before Zinc dragged him back.

"Don't. It's over."

The crowd of fleeing shamans swept them both away. Screams and the metallic smell of dust overwhelmed him. The cobblestones were slick with blood and entrails, and he had to fight to keep his balance. He could hear the falling walls crashing down, inches from his heels. Familiar faces passed by him- Syncro carrying Iris, Cadences dragging a young mage out of the ruins of a house, Doom and Angel trying to evacuate the few inhabited homes in the path of the avalanche.

It seemed like hours before the dust smell faded away and was replaced by clean air. They were gathered in front of a huge building that seemed relatively untouched by the chaos except for a scorched lawn and a heap of ashes scattered across the path. Metal lion sculptures watched the struggling crowd impassively.

"Lily…" Zinc said quietly. "She's…"

"Don't. Not now."

Elivagar looked down at himself and noticed a spear-like chunk of wood embedded through his shoulder. It didn't seem to hurt at all, so he pulled it out and tried to concentrate on healing the wound. Blood ran down his armor, clotting the fur together in a dark stain that only blended into the rest of the injuries he had received.

Two shamans were sitting apart from the rest of the crowd, not far from where he was. Elivagar walked slowly towards them and he realized it was Luc.

He was holding a wounded earthwarden, whose arm and chest had been reduced to bloody pulp. A healing totem sat nearby but its light was dying swiftly. The woman turned her head towards him, giving Elivagar a glimpse of her face. It was Silver.

"It's over," Luc was saying. "We won."

"Did we?" Silver whispered. "I see it… The gods gave us a gift today."

"They did," Luc said. "It is over. You don't have to fight anymore."

"Nonsense. There is always another fight." Silver's laugh turned into strained coughing. "I wanted to tell you-"

"What?"

The earthwarden sighed, closing her eyes. "I always regretted…"

Her head drooped back and she said nothing more.

Luc's shoulders slumped. He picked up her mask and placed it over her face, then set her down and arranged her robes over her wound.

"I'm sorry." Elivagar wasn't sure what else to say, but Luc didn't seem to hear him.

He looked back one more time at the worst of the destruction. The spires and dome of the Palace were gone, and in its place was a shattered ruin of stone and wood. Fire was crawling over the splintered beams, sending clouds of thick black smoke into the sky.

* * *

Q_T looked up at the column of smoke growing on the horizon. The harsh rough terrain at Neolithic was perfectly flat and gave an excellent view of the flames, even across the huge distance.

"Stormwind is burning. I need to return, now." She drew her sword and hurried back to her camp with the troop leader at her side. "Get the acolytes ready to leave. The miners can stay here. My horse needs to be saddled-"

She pulled back the tent flaps and gasped in terror. Blood was splattered across the inside, soaking the carpet, her bedding, and her supplies. Four dead acolytes were lying on the floor in pieces. Flies buzzed over the remains.

"Help!" Q_T screamed. "Light protect us, we need to get out of here. The warriors are…"

The head acolyte suddenly coughed and collapsed. Fresh blood sprayed Q_T's face, pouring from the gaping wound in his neck as he choked on his last breaths. She turned to run, trying to wipe it out of her eyes, but suddenly came face-to-face with the point of a sword.

"Drop your weapon," Natalie said calmly.

Q_T let her sword fall from her numb fingers onto the cracked dry earth.

"I think you've outstayed your welcome, Lady Q_T," the warrior said. She pressed her own blade underneath Q_T's chin. "You're right. It's time for you to leave."

"Listen," Q_T said, trying not to panic. "It's too late for the city. The House of Light needs me to help rebuild. It was our home-"

"Look at them." Natalie pointed to the bodies piled in her tent. "Four dead, for Tiff and the others who you had killed."

"It wasn't me!" Q_T pleaded. "It was Her Majesty, I swear I had nothing to do with it-"

Cold steel pierced her throat, cutting off her words. Blood filled her mouth and poured down her front, soaking her robes. Her legs gave way beneath her as she struggled for air. Natalie pulled her sword free and watched Q_T's blood soaking into the parched ground. Others gathered around her, with eyes as cold and unforgiving as the desert stones.

"That was for Axoy."

* * *

 **Two Weeks Later**

"Well, you all made it," Identity said bleakly. "Somehow."

The gathered mages nodded. The battle with the few remaining acolytes had taken a solid toll on them, and the aquamancers were already working overtime to heal all of the wounded, so they had agreed to let the most minor wounds heal naturally.

"Not sure what to say about your methods of defense, but it was certainly… effective." Identity and her entourage were in the exams hall with Pykxe and his teams, waiting for Fontn to join them. "How long does it usually take him to walk here from his office?"

"Anywhere from five minutes to six hours," Sheer said helpfully.

"Really-"

"I heard that, you piece of s***. Not you, Identity. Sorry."

Fontn was hobbling down the hall, leaning heavily on his walking stick and Cthuko's arm. He looked exhausted, and half of his face was spectacularly bruised. "Looks like you all survived. It's a pity, I had a bet that Sheer would find a way to off himself."

Creaam's broken jaw was wired closed, but he managed to summon an L shape of frost in the air that disintegrated before Fontn looked at him.

"Nice to see you too," Heatran muttered. "Don't have a heart attack."

"F*** you."

"Uh, how'd you sleep?" Sheer asked awkwardly.

"With my eyes closed, you f***ing moron. I'm assigning you with Zech to disarm and neutralize all unused traps on the east and west wings. Have fun."

Sheer looked terrified, but only mumbled a few lines from the Book of Light under his breath before gathering up his team and leaving with the others.

"Everyone else, let's kick the void shard process into full production. If everything goes well, we'll be solving a whole bunch of problems with just one fairly basic solution. I don't need to get anything past that bitch Serena- ahem, may the Light rest her soul- but seriously, I spent so much time arguing with her-"

Pykxe elbowed him in the ribs.

"Right. Anyway our new Queen is going to be a toddler who probably can't even spell the word 'Stormwind,' so I don't anticipate much conflict with the Crown. That's all."

The mages filed out past the dozens of makeshift hospital beds, heading towards the doors where their horses were prepared for the ride back out to the abandoned mine.

"Classy," Tomol muttered. "Just an absolute class act."

"Always." Theo picked up a box of supplies, but the edge bit into her injured hand and she dropped it. "Aaah! I'm sorry, I just can't. My hand…"

"You should have let me try to heal that cut. I've never seen anything like it." Sonic pointed at her bandaged fingers, which were starting to bleed again. "Are you sure about this? It might do something weird to the nerves-"

"Good. I want it to scar." She didn't bother to explain why. "Let's just go. I'll be fine in a couple days."

Sonic shrugged and picked up the box. "It's your funeral- ugh, I didn't mean it like that."

Most of the city was still draped in black for the casualties of the Palace collapse. Theo could see the little wisps of smoke rising from Serena's funeral pyre in the distance.

"Into the Light we are brought… and into the Light we return," Sonic recited.

"Or the Void," Theo murmured. She almost began to cry again at the thought, but held it back.

"You know, you owe Sindre a new skeleton," Sonic began. "Plus that necklace-"

"Do me a favor and just don't remind him at all. If he wants a new skeleton, there's plenty scattered around the College."

* * *

" _Kara. Sweetheart, look at me_."

It took so much effort to open her eyes, but she managed to do it slowly. Everything was blurry and white. Nothing was in focus. She blinked and rubbed at her face. She was lying in a little bed in a bright room, and someone was sitting next to her.

" _You did so well_."

The voice was familiar but she couldn't place it. Kara blinked again and squinted into the bright light. Aunt Lucy seemed to be occupying the empty chair next to her, but her figure was translucent and Kara couldn't look at her directly.

"You're dead," Kara managed to say. "Am I dead too?"

" _No, and you will not be for a very long time. I had to say goodbye to my nieces... and I have something for you_."

"What?" Kara tried to sit up in bed, but her limbs were too heavy and she gave up.

" _This_." Lucy reached out and something cold fell into Kara's hand. It was a heart-shaped locket on a golden chain.

" _It was the only thing I kept after I was excommunicated. Serena destroyed all of my possessions that she could find, but she did not take this from me, even after I was dead. Her own locket is gone now, along with the Heart, but I thought you should have this one. Let it be a reminder that the spirits are always with you_."

"How can they be with me if the Heart is gone?" Kara asked.

" _The Light works in mysterious ways, Princess. The Heart was only one small demonstration of its power. We are not only present if we are summoned_."

She was still confused, but decided to let it go. "Thank you."

" _You will be crowned very soon, and I must help you understand your aunt's mistakes so that you do not repeat them. Do you know what her greatest mistake was_?"

"No," said Kara slowly.

" _She thought that since she feared so much for her own life, that others must fear for theirs as well.  
To her, death was a terror that circled around her like a vulture. She used it in a way that reflected her own fears: as a weapon to silence and to threaten. But she never understood that death is not an ending- only a step in a longer journey_."

Kara tried to put together what she had said. "So you already knew dying wouldn't be bad for you?"

" _I tried to take my own life a long time ago. The Light refused to let me die. Somehow I knew that when my time truly came, it would be for a greater purpose and I would be ready to move on. And it was._ "

"What about the others who died?" Kara asked. "Did they know too?"

" _Maybe. Maybe not. Knowing one's fate is a luxury and a curse. But we all have our time, Kara, and there is always a purpose in our end, no matter if it is for good or for evil._ "

"What's my purpose? And Panda's?"

" _I cannot see your future. Only your past. But you have so much life and light ahead of you, and your sister does too_." Lucy reached for Kara's hand, and her grasp felt solid and real; less like a spirit and more like a living person. " _Do not fear death, Princess. Fear those who cling to life and crave power. When you have faith in fate, you will finally understand what it means to be a leader and a Queen_."

The Light grew brighter around her, bathing Kara in warmth. " _Remember me. I will always be with you_."

"Don't go!" Kara tried to say, but it vanished before she could get the words out.

"Princess, who are you talking to?"

The voice pulled her back to reality. Kara looked around again. She was still lying in a bed, but she recognized the room. It was one of the aquamancers' stations in the College.

"Where am I?" Kara croaked out. She looked down at her own body for the first time. Cuts and bruises laced every inch of her limbs, one of her feet was in a splint, and her throat felt like she had swallowed a mouthful of dry sand.

"They pulled you and your sister out of the Palace ruins last week. You have been at the College of Stormwind for almost six days, unconscious. I healed the wound on your head and set the bones as best as I could, but there was no way for me to tell if you would ever wake." The aquamancer walked around her bed and sat down in the chair that Lucy had occupied. Her eyes frightened Kara for a second; the lids were raw and swollen, and the irises were two different colors. "Princess, tell me your name, your age, and the last thing you clearly remember."

"My name is Kara. I'm eight years old. And… I just remember a lot of noise, and then nothing."

The aquamancer patted her shoulder sympathetically. "The Palace collapsed shortly after the shamans managed to break the acolyte lines around its doors. We cleared so much rubble and found nothing. It had been days. Most of Stormwind believed you were dead. But one of the shamans shifted a single piece of a wall and purely by luck, found the remains of a passage that led to a secure room. You are very fortunate to be alive. If you had been trapped any longer, you would have suffocated."

"Aunt Serena was in there," Kara whispered. The memories began to trickle back to her. "She's…"

"Her body was recovered; well, everything that was left of it, anyway. The House of Light is preparing the funeral arrangements for her and the Ministers of the House. There were others in the chamber as well, but the important part is that you are here and safe."

The door to the station opened and the aqua quickly stood up. "Your Queensguard and your sister are here. I will leave you alone with them."

"Thanks," Kara murmured. She watched the mage leave as a tiny blur in a white robe nearly ran her over trying to get to Kara's bed.

"Oh my gods, what happened to you?" Panda clung to her so tightly that she couldn't breathe. "They told me you weren't waking up, and you're all bloody-"

"I'm okay. I think." Kara pulled away and looked at her sister's bruised face. There were bandages over her nose and a freshly healed scar over her eye. "We made it. We're alive."

Panda nodded and wiped at her eyes with her sleeve. "It felt like I died."

There was something gold glittering around her sister's neck and Kara looked closer. It was a medallion with beautifully scripted words circling the outside.

"Oh, that." Panda sighed and looked down as if she was embarrassed. "They named me the next Daughter so that the House could hold together some kind of leadership while they rebuild. I have to reappoint the Council of Ministers… get the acolytes buried and back in order… it's just a lot of work."

"That's great." Kara pushed down the reflexive terror that had risen up, and smiled encouragingly. "Listen. Don't think about what happened, okay? We're not gonna let it go that far ever again."

Panda nodded and sniffled again. "What are you holding?"

She looked down at her hand. Lucy's necklace was still wrapped around her palm.

"It was a gift, I guess. I didn't think it was real… but…" Kara shook out the chain and undid the cover of the locket. There was a tiny glimmer of green and her heart nearly stopped, but it was only the locket's lining. Inside was a miniature portrait of herself and Panda. "Oh. Look."

"Where did that come from?" Panda picked it up and turned it over. "I don't remember ever seeing this."

"It's a reminder," Kara said. "We have each other. We'll always have each other." She grabbed Panda's hands and held them tightly, with the locket pressed between them. "Look what we did. Everything after this will be easy."

"It really can't get worse, can it?" Panda almost giggled as she picked up the necklace chain and dropped it over Kara's head. "There. Do you think you can stand up? You need to finish their Oaths of Service. I've got the words on paper here."

"Help me. I need something to lean on."

Her legs felt as strong as jelly, but Panda supported her until she could hold on to the wall for support. The four warriors waiting for her were not the ones she had hoped to see, but she knew she would grow to trust her Guard as much as she had trusted the ones before.

" _On my honor_ ," Kara recited. " _I take you into my home as those who have survived the End of Days and proved your strength. You will protect my life as you protect your own, and in return I will neither betray your trust, nor lie to you. When I break this oath, your service to me shall end_."

Pran, Soup, Natalie, and Raidibotti drew their weapons and bowed deeply.

" _On my honor, my life is yours_."

They rose and stood on either side of Kara and Panda, flanking them as Kara had seen their predecessors do with Serena. She could see the remnants of old scars crossing their skin.

"It's done," Panda said quietly. "You should lie down."

Kara barely heard her words over the confusion of her own thoughts. She was the Queen, in all but name. It felt new and terrifying and dizzying.

"Hey." Panda helped her sit down. "Look. I know you won't really have a place to stay in the Palace for a while. But they gave me Aunt Serena's old rooms in the House of Light and it's just… so, so creepy. Can you come and stay with me for a few days? Just until they get the lower floor of the Palace rebuilt."

Kara couldn't stop herself from smiling. Panda sounded like she was three years old and scared of the dark again.

"Of course. Let's go home."


End file.
